Uses of "Hace" in Spanish

[livingdeb]

DuoLingo appears to have dropped the comments, or as they call them, "sentence discussions." You could upvote or downvote the comments, so the best ones rose to the top, and these were often fabulous explanations of new things everyone was confused about. Now I have to go somewhere else to do my research. Waaa.

But that means you get to read about my results. Even if you're not studying Spanish, these posts might be interesting just because they are about how another language does things differently. Also, seeing how things are translated literally from Spanish to English may help you better understand a native Spanish speaker who is still learning English.

So I've already learned that "hace" could mean "ago," even though literally it means "it makes or it does."

Spanish: Yo corrí hace tres horas.
Literal English: I ran it makes three hours.
Natural English: I ran three hours ago.

It barely makes sense to me, but I can imagine someone saying the literal sentence if they're calculating--I ran, hmm, it makes, uh, three hours. Fortunately "hace [amount of time]" rolls off my tongue just as easily as "[amount of time] ago," so I've got it now. Even I can (slowly) get used to things. Yay!

But now we're learning the phrase "hace que" (it makes that) which actually changes the tense of your verb.

Spanish: Hace dos meses que vivo aquí.
Literal English: It makes two months that I live here.
Natural English: I've lived here for two months.

I guess really English is the weird language here. Why do we use "ago" for finished actions but not for continuing actions? Glad I don't have to learn that!

And then there's "desde hace." "Desde" means "since," but "desde hace" means "for." How?

Spanish: Espero desde hace tres horas.
Literal English: I wait since it makes three hours.
Natural English: I've been waiting for three hours.

Now, Spanish already has two words for "for," and figuring out which one to use is a real problem for English speakers. "Para" is more about purpose or destination, and "por" is more about exchange or duration. So I would expect to say "He esperando por tres horas"--I have been waiting for three hours (with "por" meaning "through" or "throughout" the whole three hours). But apparently that means you are done waiting (maybe you are now complaining to the person for whom you were waiting). Whereas using "desde hace" (with the present tense) indicates that the action is still continuing. The poor person above has already been waiting three hours and is still waiting.

Comments

[reedrover]

Flashbacks! I had completely forgotten desde hace.

[livingdeb]

It's so forgettable! Hopefully, you remember it when you see it.