When does one use Hace for past tenses?

Question

In the following example:

Hace tres semanas que estoy de excursion?

I am assuming that this translates to "I have been hiking for three weeks"

Now I thought that "Hace tres semanas" would translate into "three weeks ago", but it would not make sense to say, three weeks ago I am hiking. So I am assuming by adding que after changes the meaning to "I have been hiking for three weeks"

Can someone please elaborate on the use of Hace for talking in the past and whether my assumptions are correct? Thanks

Answer 1

Now I thought that "Hace tres semanas" would translate into "three weeks ago", but it would not make sense to say, three weeks ago I am hiking.

Using "ago" is the best way to express the same idea in English, but that doesn't mean that "hace" means "ago". You don't have anything remotely similar in your language, so it is hard to explain how it works. Think of it as "count 3 weeks and you'll get close to understanding it. "Hace tres semanas que estoy de excursion" would be more like "count three weeks for which I am on an excursion", but of course, you wouldn't use those words or that construction in English.

"Hace" is used in present tense to talk about present related to a past reference that is found by counting the time lapse between them. Used in the past, it refers to past events that can be located back in time by counting the time it passed. You can also talk about the time it has passed until a moment in the past is considered; here you'd use a past tense too, of course.

Answer 2

Another method for stating the "for a time duration" is using desde hace. It seems to make more sense to me intuitively: desde hace dos años, literally, since two years ago seems more like for two years to me.

hacer+time expressions

Another way to use the verb "hacer" to express how long something has been taking place is to use the following formula:

Present tense form of the verb + desde hace + time

Estudio español desde hace un año. I have been studying Spanish for one year.

Ellas estudian inglés desde hace dos años. They have been studying English for two years.

Notice the impact of the que and the verb tense (past or present) in these expression hace+time expresssion vs hace+time expression que...

Estudiaba español hace dos años.. I was studying Spanish two years ago.

Hace dos años que estudio español. I have been studying Spanish for two years,

From this article:

Note the differences and similarities:

Hace un año que estudio español. I have been studying Spanish for one year.

Hace un año que estudié español. I studied Spanish one year ago.

Estudié español hace un año. I studied Spanish one year ago.

Answer 3

"Hace (tiempo)" is ....(time) ago... La hablé hace cinco minutos.

Hace + time+ que + verb = to have been --ing for --time.

e.g. : Hace dos minutos que estudio el libro.

e.g. : ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que lo estudias? (¿Hace cuánto tiempo que lo estudias?)