hace ... que

Question

If 'hace ocho años que veo las películas de Disney' means "it has been 8 years since I have seen a Disney movie."

does this make sense:

¡No me importa un bledo que soy demasiada vieja para ver las películas de Disney ya que hace ocho años que veo las películas de Disney!

There are many good answers here, so I will leave this link here. It has a few good examples -- http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/hacerago.htm - NikkiLR, Jan 3, 2012

and one more =) -- http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/timehacer.htm - NikkiLR, Jan 3, 2012

Answer 1

If 'hace ocho años que veo las películas de Disney' means "it has been 8 years since I have seen a Disney movie."

It doesn't.

The expression...

Hace + time expression + present tense (indicative) verb

is an expression that is used to describe how much time has passed while an activity or state, described by the verb, has been ongoing. Specifically, your sentence:

Hace ocho años que veo las películas de Disney

can be translated as:

It has been 8 years that I have been watching Disney movies

—or—

I have been watching Disney movies for 8 years

If we were to negate the verb

Hace ocho años que no veo las películas de Disney

then it would have the effect of implying that 8 years have passed and that during this time, I was not watching Disney movies. In short, we might translate it as:

It has been 8 years since I watched a Disney movie

—or—

I have not watched a Disney movie in 8 years

Straight out of the dictionary. "Hace diez años" = ten years ago. - gringojrf, Jan 3, 2012

Good explanation!! You have my vote =D -- and gringojrf,"hace" doesn't always mean "ago" =) - NikkiLR, Jan 3, 2012

Answer 2

does this make sense:

¡No me importa un bledo que soy demasiada vieja para ver las películas de Disney ya que hace ocho años que veo las películas de Disney!

A couple of suggestions:

¡No me importa un bledo que soy sea demasiado vieja para ver las películas de Disney ya que hace ocho años que no las veo las películas de Disney!

This would translate to something along the lines of:

I couldn't care less that I am too old to watch Disney movies given the fact that it has been eight years since I have watched them!

Notes on corrections

(1). No me importa un bledo que... This expression will normally be followed by either a verb in the subjunctive mood or an infinitive. An alternate expression might be, "No me importa un bledo ser demasiado vieja..." which would translate to something like, "Being to old (to watch Disney movies) doesn't bother me one bit...."

(2) demasiado vieja: The word "demasiado" is used as an adverb to modify the adjective "vieja." Because it is acting as an adverb and not an adjective, the form is invariable, that is, it does not inflect to agree in gender or number.

(3)que no las veo las películas de Disney: I was under the assumption that the intent of your sentence was to describe that so much time has passed since you have watched Disney movies; therefore, as discussed previously, the word "no" is placed before the verb to indicate that the action has not been taking place over this period of time. The final phrase "las películas de Disney" which I deleted could have actually been kept as it was; however, given the fact that you already made reference to these movies in the very same sentence, it seemed a bit redundant to restate the entire phrase. Instead, I opted to replace the phrase with the direct object pronoun "la" (in this case translated as "them"). In any case, this last suggestion had more to do with stylistic concerns than grammatical correctness.

When I said "hace ocho anos que veo las películas de Disney I meant "I have been watchign Disney films for 8 years" - sinthu, Jan 8, 2012

Answer 3

Gringojrf said:

Straight out of the dictionary. "Hace diez años" = ten years ago.

Yes, but be careful because this is taken out of context.

Perhaps the following set of question and answers can help to clarify how context can dictate how this expression might be interpreted:

Example 1:

—¿Cuándo occurió? ? When did it happen

—(Occurió) hace diez años ? (It happened) ten years ago

Example 2:

—¿Cuánto hace que murió? ? How long ago did he die?

—Hace diez años (desde que murió) ? It's been ten years (since he died)/ten years ago

Example 3:

—¿Cuánto tiempo hace que estudias español? ? How long have you been studying Spanish?

—Hace diez años (que estudio español) ? (I have been studying) for ten years.

Excellent xamples. Thank you. So it can be used to express the passage of time since somethng occurred or how long it has been occurring, depending on the context. - gringojrf, Jan 3, 2012

Answer 4

Hmm,I thought hace dos años would mean "two years ago".

I think that is for the verb hacer but this is hacer .. que - sinthu, Jan 3, 2012

Answer 5

We have a translator tool on here (one of the tabs above) that does a fairly decent job:

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Cheers!

the translator sometimes jumble the words which is why I asked here - sinthu, Jan 3, 2012

Rightfully so! I was merely suggesting it as a starting point, especially if you already have some grasp of the language! :) - cristalino, Jan 3, 2012

The translator, useful as it is at times, will not sort out grammar and this is a grammatical situation. that can be best answered by being trashed around via the members. - caza, Jan 3, 2012

PS None of the three above examples are correct English so you pays your money and you takes your choice! - caza, Jan 3, 2012

@caza: Agreed! The translator gets you on the "cancha"... you still have to do some deciphering in most cases! :) - cristalino, Jan 3, 2012

Answer 6

There is also "desde hace ---- días, horas, etc."
Ella jugaba beisbol desde hacía veinte años. She's been playing baseball for twenty years.

Answer 7

Hmm,I thought hace dos años would mean "two years ago".

You are correct. For example: No la veo desde hace dos años. I haven't seen her for two years. and not: I have been seeing her for two years. That would be: La he estado viendo por dos años.

So I agree Hace (expression of time) que indicates how long ago something took place.

Answer 8

For "I've been watching Spanish movies for 8 years." You sas, "He estado viendo las películas de Disney por ocho años." anyone please correct me if I'm wrong.

Answer 9

How do I say - I have been watching Disney movies for 8 years?

He estado viendo las películas de Disney por ocho años. - Himself12794, Jan 3, 2012

Answer 10

More or less "it has been 8 years since I have seen a Disney movie." Hace xxx años refers to a length of time that has passed, ie hace tres dias, hace una semana.

Answer 11

It's been 8 years since I saw Disney movies.