About time expressions with hacer.

Question

I was there two years ago.

Hace dos años que fui allí

I was there for three months.

Hace tres meses estoy allí

I had been there for three months.

Hacía tres meses que estaba allí.

I would have liked to stay there for three months ( but I couldn't)

Desearía quedar allí hace tres meses. (pero no pude)

I wanted to stay for three months.

quise alojar hace tres meses.

If anyone has any links to lessons or exercises to help with this I would be very grateful. Thanks

Answer 1

I didn't seem to have a lesson so I've just whipped you one up - I hope it helps Thanks for the motivation jeje

I'll fine tune it later but hope it'll suffice to get you started :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 22, 2013

perfect result for me haha - teasip, Jan 22, 2013

Outstanding Kiwi this is what I was hoping for - teasip, Jan 22, 2013

kewl bananas :) happy I could help! - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 22, 2013

Thanks. This is often confusing. - katydew, Jan 22, 2013

:) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 23, 2013

Answer 2

The first one might want 'estaba'

I think your second was say you were there 3 months ago, not For (por) 3 meses.

Answer 3

I have been here since Tuesday.

Estoy aquí desde hace el lunes ??? Or should hace be left out.

Yes, all of those specifics (day, date, month etc) can be expressed just with desde and the hace is dropped.

I should mention (and have now added it to the post) that this construction will likely sound quite strange to some ears as it seems to be fairly regional.

Another possibly more common construction (especially in Latin America) to express 'since' is as we do in English, using the present perfect tense with 'desde'.

He estado aqui desde el lunes.

I've been here since Tuesday.

It'd be great to have some native speaker feedback, or feedback from people living in lands where Spanish is spoken to see which is more natural to them or if there are other options.

I've asked some native speakers and the feedback is that in Chile and Nicaragua (to those who I asked at least) the 'estoy aqui desde lunes' version sounds very weird and 'he estado aquí desde lunes' would be the norm. Whereas a Peruvian friend said she'd say 'estoy aquí desde lunes' unless she was mad and wanted to emphasize how long she'd been there, eg if she'd been waiting for someone and they hadn't turned up, then she'd say 'he estado .....'

Interesting. I´ve used the vivo aquí desde hace construction here and it´s gone OK, but I was recently corrected on it (and told to use ´he estado´ by someone who is an advanced non-native who learned Spa pretty well, albeit ´in the streets. - rogspax, Jan 23, 2013

Seems it sounded not wrong, but not normal to him as well. - rogspax, Jan 23, 2013

interesting isn't it :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 23, 2013

Answer 4

Can you use hace to answer the following questions;

How long did he read for? How many years did you study for? Basicly to inquire after how long something took or to explain how long something took. Or is hace not used in those situations?

Sure, they work the same way, with the present tense to talk about current action and for how long it's been going on and preterite tense to talk about how long ago something happened.

You usually answer in the same manner that you were asked, so if someone says - ¿cuanto tiempo hace ... ? you'd answer starting with 'hace'. But if someone asked ¿Por cuánto tiempo has estado ....? (bearing in mind that this is regional) you'd start your answer with 'he estado ....)

You might find this lesson on asking 'how' questions helpful - here's an excerpt:

¿Cuánto tiempo + hace que + present tense and ¿Cuánto tiempo + llevar

= to ask how long something has been going on or how long something has been that way

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que estudias español? How long have you been studying Spanish? ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que sales con Juan? How long have you been going out with John? ¿Cuánto tiempo lleva enfermo? How long have you been sick? ¿Cuánto tiempo llevan ustedes aquí? How long have you been here? ¿Cuánto tiempo lleva desaparecido su hijo? How long has your child been missing? ¿Cuánto tiempo de vuelo llevamos? How long have we been flying?

NB To answer these kind of 'how' questions you use whichever verb was used in the question.
¿Cuánto tiempo hace que rompiste con María? Hace tres meses.
¿Cuánto tiempo llevan ustedes aquí? Llevabamos diez años aquí.

¿Cuánto tiempo + hace que + past tense (or ¿Hace cuánto tiempo que + past tense)

= How long ago

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que rompiste con María? How long ago did you break up with Maria? ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que tuvo a su hijo?
How long ago did you have you have your son?

Answer 5

Can you use hace to answer the following questions;

• How long did he read for?
• How many years did you study for?

Basicly to inquire after how long something took or to explain how long something took. Or is hace not used in those situations?

see answer below :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 23, 2013

Answer 6

Thanks Kiwi, Very helpful to us all.

OK, I´m not quite clear on one possible construction, in which a fairly specific point ( a day or a month, for example) is named, but it is not an exact date or time, nor a period of time, both of which are very well covered in your examples.

For example

I have been here since Tuesday.

Estoy aquí desde hace el lunes ???
Or should hace be left out.

I have been studying Spanish since January. Estudio español desde hace enero ???

Again, is the hace proper or not_ I´m `pretty sure that´s how I learned to express that in the Pimsleur tapes, but now you have me wondering. (I´ve certainly been guilty of mislearning before)

Thanks

Roger

see post above :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jan 23, 2013