Most who study Spanish are familiar with the verb Hacer. The most common English translation is to ‘make’ or ‘do’. But hacer can be used to mean many other things. It is also used quite often in Spanish. That is why it is a good idea to become as familiar as you can with this very intriguing verb. Learning a few more ways to use hacer will help your conversational skills dramatically.
In this article, we will look at how we use hacer in the same manner we would use to ‘do’ or to ‘make’ in English. But more importantly, we will look at a few other ways to use hacer. Some of them you may already know, but review is always good! And we will take a look at hacer in the present tense, as well as some of the other tenses.
Keep in mind the verb hacer is very irregular. Its conjugation in every tense, except the imperfect, follows no real pattern and has to be memorized. If you have a Spanish verb reference, you may want to review hacer in its various conjugations.
We can usually use hacer in the same way we would use to ‘do’ or ‘make’ in English. For example:
I make my bed each morning. – Hago la cama cada mañana.
She makes dinner every night. – Hace la cena todas las noches.
I did it yesterday. – Lo hice ayer. (Simple past tense).
She was going to do it last night. – Iba a hacerlo anoche. Or, lo iba a hacer anoche. (Imperfect tense).
They do the work very well. – Hacen el trabajo muy bien.
We do many interesting things. Hacemos muchas cosas intersantes.
She used to do it every Saturday. – Lo hacía todos los sábados. (Imperfect).
What did you do yesterday? - ¿Qué hizo ayer? Or, informal, ¿Qué hiciste ayer? (Simple past)
Do it now! – ¡Hágalo ahora mismo! Or, informal, ¡Hazlo ahora mismo! (Imperative, subjunctive).
Don’t do it. – No lo haga. Or informal, No lo hagas. (Imperative, subjunctive.)
I have a lot to do. – Tengo mucho que hacer.
I hope you do it. – Espero que lo haga. (Present subjunctive)
Now let’s look at some of the other ways hacer is used.
When talking about exercise hacer is often used:
I like to exercise. – Me gusta hacer ejercicio.
She exercised in the gym this morning. – Ella hizo ejercicio en el gimnasio esta mañana.
They have already exercised today. – Ya han hecho ejercicio hoy. (Present perfect).
I am going to exercise tomorrow morning. – Voy a hacer ejercicio mañana en la mañana.
Will you exercise tomorrow? – ¿Hará ejercicio manaña? (Future tense).
Hacer can be used to refer to questions being asked:
May I ask (to) you a question? – ¿Puedo hacerle una pregunta?
They asked (to) me many questions. – Me hicieron muchas preguntas. (Simple past).
Will they ask a lot of questions? - ¿Harán muchas preguntas? (Future tense).
She asked (to) us many questions. – Nos hizo muchas preguntas.
As most of us know, hacer is used to describe the weather:
How is the weather there? – ¿Qué tiempo hace allá?
The weather is nice here. – Hace buen tiempo aquí.
It was hot yesterday. – Hizo calor ayer.
It will be very windy today. – Hará mucho viento hoy.
Most of the time it is very sunny in Panamá. – Por la mayor parte, hace sol en Panamá.
Also, hacer is used as the equivalent for the English word ‘ago’, and other expressions of time:
It happened just a little while ago. – Pasó hace poco.
We got married nineteen years ago. – Nos casamos hace diecinueve años.
They finished the Coronado mall one year ago. – Se terminó el centro comercial Coronado hace un año.
How long have you lived here? – ¿Cuanto tiempo hace que ha(s) vivido aquí?
How long has it been since our last Spanish lesson? ¿Qué tanto tiempo hace desde nuestra última lección de Español?
Hacer may also be used to mean ‘paying attention’:
You don’t pay attention. – No hace(s) caso.
You are not paying attention. – No está haciendo caso.
He was not paying attention in class. – No hacía caso en la clase. (Imperfect tense).
Listen to me (pay attention to me)! – ¡Hágame caso. Or informal, Hazme caso!
Don’t mind her (don’t pay attention to her). – No le haga(s) caso.
Now look at a few rather abstract ways to use hacer:
Do you feel like it might rain? – ¿Se te hace que va a llover?
I miss her help. – Me hace falta su ayuda. (To me, she makes me lack her help).
As hot as it is..- Con el calor que hace..
The food made me ill. – La comida me hizo mal.
It gets dark early in Panamá. Se hace oscuro temprano en Panamá.
There are many other ways hacer is used in Spanish. If you look hacer up in a Spanish dictionary, you will see paragraphs of definitions and different ways it is used. But if you can become familiar with just some of the basic uses of hacer, like the examples above, your comprehension and verbal skills will be improved.
Hope this helps!
Fred
