Hace un mes que llegué.

Question

What kind of clause does que lead here, or does que have such a meaning as since? Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

The sentence is translated: "It has been a month since I arrived." But it isn't because que means since. Instead, the pattern "hace (time period) que..." gets translated as a whole into the English pattern "it has been (time period) since..." or "(time period) ago" and possibly other ways.

Answer 2

It could still be the relative pronoun "that"' depending on how you choose to translate the sentence.

Even though hace is in the present tense in the hace+time period it is usually translated as "it has been (time period) that"

It has been a month that I arrived. or I arrived a month ago.

I wouldn't suggest translating it with desde since desde has it's own uses with time spans.

See this thread currently being answered:

[current discussion][1]

[1]: About desde and hace