Can the perfecto de indicativo tense be used with hace/ago.
"Hace dos anos que no han estudiado espanol."' Is this correct?
5 Answers
This is a typical difference between English and Spanish: while the present perfect is used similarly in both languages to express a connection between the past a the present, in Spanish we don't normally use this tense when this connection is expressed with words like "desde", because it is like expressing the same idea twice in a row, which sounds redundant in our language.
In any case, Spanish expresses certain things in a different way. We have ONE verb to express things that you have (or haven't) done since a period of time, which English doesn't have:
Llevan dos años sin estudiar español.
If you insist in talking English with Spanish words, you'll always sound strange to natives. Learn how we speak; don't re-invent what is already invented.
P.D. "Anos" means "anuses" in Spanish. I suggest you type the Ñ.
With respect to your title, "ago" is not a conjugated form of "hacer" (the 1st person sing pres. indic. is "hago") However, the Spanish expression for "It's been X period of time since I (or anyone) did ..." is in the third pers. sing pres. indic. e.g. "hace tres semanas/ dos meses/whatever que no ....
It sounds better to say hace dos años que no estudian español. I'm not sure if using that tense is absolutely incorrect but it sounds weird and unnecessary.
EDIT: Mediterrunio beat me to it xD. The other options he gave are also good.
It does not sound right.
Hace dos años que no estudian español => No han estudiado español por dos años => No han estudiado español desde hace dos años.
It is correct if you are talking about "them".
