Desde hace / desde hacía
2
votes
No se veían desde hacía años. She hadn't seen her in many years. What if you said "No se veían desde hace muchos años"? I think you need to stay in past imperfect so you use hacía but hace would be understood? desde hacía is hard for my mind to like the sound of.
12543 views
updated Apr 17, 2012
posted by jeezzle
Did you intend to write 'desde hacía' in the italicised sentence jeezzle? - galsally, Dec 20, 2010
did you not understand what he or she was saying or was you translating because im new to this website and i need help on what this website does and all i speak is english so i will need help - dior, Dec 20, 2010
4 Answers
2
votes
The "hace" in "desde hace" is not a verb, actually. "Desde hace" is a fixed expression with the meaning of "for [a period of time]".
- Desde: since [a point in time]
- Hace: [a period of time] ago
- Desde hace: for/in [a period of time]
Examples:
- Desde el sábado pasado [~=] since last saturday
- Hace tres años [~=] Three years ago
- Está casado desde hace tres años [~=] He has been married for three years.
updated Apr 17, 2012
edited by RobertoLeones
posted by RobertoLeones
this is a great explanation! - t8805jg, Apr 17, 2012
2
votes
desde hace is very common in Mexico, so the use is probably is regional.
updated Dec 20, 2010
posted by 005faa61
2
votes
I think is imperfect past tense, It sounds good, gives a deep sense to the sentence, we use it that way. Another usage is:
Hacía años que no (nos/te/los/las) (veíamos/veía).
updated Dec 20, 2010
edited by Dakie
posted by Dakie
1
vote
updated Dec 20, 2010
posted by lorenzo9
