hacer in tiempo expressions

Question

José Carreras cantó en público por primera vez en 1954. Hace cincuenta y siete años que José Carreras _____ en público por primera vez choices are canta and cantó

the book says the correct answer is canta, but shouldn't it be cantó since it's been 57 yrs since he's performed for the first time? preterit form

Well spotted :) - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 20, 2013

Please throw that book away! Believe it or not some books can be burned! - Jubilado, Oct 20, 2013

Answer 1

It makes 57 years that José Carreras sings in public". So I think you can follow the book's answer.

This answer becomes problematic when we include the prepositional phrase that follows, "en público por primera vez." This would make our sentence read as follows:

It makes 57 years that José Carreras sings in public for the first time.

....or a less literal translation might read something like:

José Carreras has been singing in public for the first time for 57 years.

I would have to agree with the assertion that "cantó" would be a better choice in this context. With the preterit, the time element is calculated from the present (due to the verb "hacer" being in the present tense) to the time that the initial action (cantó) took place. In this way we have

Hace cincuenta y siete años que José Carreras cantó en público por primera vez

Which makes our overly literal translation come out to something like:

It makes 57 years that José Carreras sang in public for the first time.

Or less literally:

José Carreras sang in public for the first time 57 years ago

-or-

It has been 57 years since José Carreras sang in public for the first time.

Perhaps you are a native speaker. I don't know. My profile is quite complete as to my abilities. I'm not sure that my answer is 100% correct; however, it would have taken far too much research on my part to explain why the "book" indicated the present. - Jubilado, Oct 20, 2013

Since I have no desire to dispute your answer here, all I can presume is that you are correct in saying the preterite can used. I also think the present can be used until I do further research. - Jubilado, Oct 20, 2013

@ observer, excellent explanation. @J, hey J, I have to agree with Observer, without that 'por primera vez' tacked on to the end your explanation is perfect but once you tack that on you really need to go with cantó for it to make . - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 20, 2013

sense :) - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 20, 2013

I totally agree Kiwi. - DualG, Oct 21, 2013

Answer 2

Perhaps this lesson that I had prepared earlier (sounds like I'm on a cooking show, lol) will help.

HACER - used in time expressions

Hacer is a very useful verb in a number of 'time' expressions.

Here are a few:

For past action continuing into the present ....

1a. HAS BEEN / HAVE BEEN

• Hace + time + que + present tense form of the verb
• Present tense + hace + time

This construction indicates the length of time a current action has been taking place; past action continuing into the present.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS:

Hace tres años que estudio español.

or

Estudio español hace tres años.

I have been studying Spanish for three years.

QUESTIONS:

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que él está leyendo?

How long ago has he been reading?

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS:

(simply place 'no' before the verb)

When this construction is used for negative statements that don't refer to a specific day, date, month or year they can be translated using 'since': (see more below on 'since')

Hace tres años que no estudio español. I haven't studied (been studying) Spanish for three years. It's been three years since I've studied Spanish.

Hace cuatro días que no te lavas el pelo. It's been four days since you've washed your hair

NB: Watch for a change of meaning when this expression is combined with the preterite tense instead of the present tense! See No 2 below.

1b. HAS BEEN / HAVE BEEN

Present tense + desde hace + time

Like 1a this construction indicates the length of time a presently ongoing action has been taking place; past action continuing into the present.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

Estudio español desde hace tres años. I have been studying Spanish for three years.

Ellas estudian inglés desde hace seis meses. They have been studying English for six months.

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

(simply place 'no' before the verb)

No estudio español desde hace tres años. I haven't (been studying) studied Spanish for three years.

Ellas no estudian inglés desde hace seis meses.

They haven't been studying (studied) English for six months.

2. AGO / IT'S BEEN ... (time) ..... SINCE

• Hace + time + que + preterite tense form of the verb

• Preterite tense + hace + time

Hace un año que estudié español.

Estudié español hace un año.

I studied Spanish one year ago. or It's been a year since I studied Spanish.

Hace dos semanas que me operaron.

It's been two weeks since I had a surgery.

or

I had surgery two weeks ago.

3. HAD BEEN

• Past action interrupted by another action in the past

• Hacía + time + que + imperfect

• Imperfect + hacía + que

Hacía tres años que estudiaba español cuando mi maestro se mudó.

Estudiaba español hacía tres años cuando mi maestro se mudó.

I had been studying Spanish for three years when my teacher moved.

Hacía una semana que el mundo esperaba su llegada.

Todo el mundo esperaba su llegada hacía una semana.

Everyone had been awaiting her arrival for a week.

Me dijo que hacía una semana o dos.

She told me it had been a week or two.

A Note about 'SINCE':

When it comes to expressing 'since' with specific times, days, months, year etc, simply use desde + time, day, year etc, instead of using hacer.

Estoy en la casa desde las diez.

I've been at home since 10 o'clock.

Busco mis gafas desde viernes.

I've been looking for my sunglasses since Friday.

Trabaja aquí desde 2012.

He's worked here since 2012.

Estoy aqui desde lunes.

I've been here since Tuesday.

ANOTHER OPTION FOR 'SINCE'

It should be pointed out that the above construction seems to be quite regional and will likely sound quite strange to some ears. Another possibly more common construction (especially in Latin America) to express 'since' is using the present perfect tense with 'desde'.

He estado aqui desde el lunes.

Thank you very, very, very much for this explanation! I knew there was so much more to it. It is depressing that there are books out there with incorrect answers. Bad pedagogy leaves so many errors in its path. - Jubilado, Oct 20, 2013

Answer 3

I'd say that the book is incorrect. You can say " Hace cincuenta y siete años que José Carreras canta en público" and this is correct, but with the addition of " por primera vez" you are talking about an specific moment in time and the past must be used.

.

To make it more clear (not literal translations but correct meanings):

.

Hace cincuenta y siete años que José Carreras canta en público"

José Carreras has been singing in public for 57 years.

.

"Hace cincuenta y siete años que José Carreras cantó en público por primera vez"

José Carreras sang in public for the first time 57 years ago.

Nice explanation. - Kiwi-Girl, Oct 20, 2013

Answer 4

I think this is a difference in the way English and Spanish state this time expression. Generally English uses the expression "it has been x time since something happened - past tense used". As you see in Spanish the verb is hace which it present tense so the literal way the Spanish is working is "It makes 57 years that José Carreras sings in public". If this were the entire sentence which it is not. So I think you can follow the book's answer. Disregard this sentence! The book is wrong!

By the way, what a fantastic tenor was and maybe still is! Now I want to listen to my recording of him singing "O mio babbino caro"!

Answer 5

I think that you may have a typo in the following passage:

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que él está leyendo?

How long ago has he been reading?

I believe that this would better be translated using one of the following variations:

How long has he been reading?

How long has he been reading for?

For how long has he been reading?