HACER IN EXPRESSIONS OF TIME DURATION.

12.4

Spanish and English structures expressing time duration are very different simply
because of the point of view each language takes. Spanish tends to view such expressions
as having current relevance, regardless of whether the points of view are present or past
Hace mucho tiempo que trabaja para nosotros indicates that the individual continues to
work for us. English, on the other hand, views the actions as existing in a period of time
stretching backwards into some earlier time, a past with current relevance. He has been
working/has worked for us for a long time does not imply that the individual works for us
anymore.

Time duration beginning in the past and continuing up until and including the present
employ distinct formulae in the two languages. Spanish uses the present tense of both the
main verb and the verb hacer; English, the present perfect (has/have worked) or the
present perfect progressive (has/have been working), of the main verb.

Hace dos años que ella vive aquí == She has lived/has been here for two years.

Ella trabaja aquí desde hace seis meses == She has been working/has worked here for
six months.

For time duration beginning sometime in the past and also ending in the past (time
wholly within the past), Spanish uses the imperfect of both the main verb and the verb
hacer; English, the pluperfect (had worked) or the pluperfect progressive tense (had been
working).

Hacía cinco años que ella vivía aquí == She had lived/had been living here for five years.

Ella trabajaba aquí desde hace seis meses === She had been working/had worked here
for six months.

In order to convey the concept of x-TIME ago, Spanish uses the present tense of hacer and
the preterite or imperfect of the main verb. English employs the past tense in conjunction
with the adverb ago.

Hace dos años que él vivió aquí === He lived/worked here two years ago.
Él trabajó aquí hace dos años.
él vivía aquí hace dos años.

Exercise

Translate the following sentences:

1.We’ve been waiting for an hour

2. Hace dos semanas (que) estaba aquí mi hermano.

3. We visited them a month ago

4. ¿Cuánto tiempo hacía que estabas deprimida?

5. We have been studying here for five hours.

6. Eloísa tocaba el piano desde hacía mucho tiempo.

7. The firemen arrived ten minutes ago.

8. Fumo desde hace dieciocho años.

9. She’s had emotional problems for several years.

10. Tuve que tomar ese examen hace un mes.

11. How long have you been studying Spanish?

12. Cuando te conocí hacía un año que estudiaba español.

13. We left Chile several weeks ago.

14. No hace mucho tiempo que ella cambió su apariencia por completo.

15. She was sick because she had been drinking for a long time.

16. Mi familia emigró de Portugal hace más de cien años.

17. I had been working in Bolivia for several years.

18. Hace quince años que tu padre está en Los Ángeles.

19. That boy has been eating only pizza for a long time.

20. Llegó el paquete hace una hora.

  I’ve been learning how to speak Spanish for years
 They’ve been waiting up for hours
 He’s been singing since he was a kid
In other words, present perfect progressive Spanish is used
to describe a continuous action that was initiated in the past
and continues to happen.

And to use this tense, all you need is the below formula:

 Auxiliary verb Haber conjugated + the past participle

of Estar + gerund of the main verb + complement
Now, some examples of this tense in action:

 I’ve been studying Spanish for 2 years – He estado

estudiando español por 2 años
 I’ve been working since I was 17 years old – He estado
trabajando desde que tengo 17 años
 She has been crying all afternoon since she heard the
news – Ella ha estado llorando toda la tarde desde que
oyó la noticia
 They have been fighting for 30 minutes – Han estado
peleando por 30 minutos
While the present perfect progressive is used on a day to
day basis, native speakers don’t normally use this tense for
formal statements (spoken or written).

Instead, they tend to use the Present Perfect, which as you’ll

see is very similar.
In case you’re not already familiar with this tense, it’s used to
describe an action that started and finished in the past, but
happened in a recent enough time frame that it is connected
to the present.

To conjugate in the present perfect tense, all you need is the

below formula:

 Auxiliary verb Haber conjugated + past participle of the

main verb,
And now, the same examples as we saw before, but this time
in the present perfect.

 I’ve studied Spanish for 2 year – He estudiado español

por 2 años

 I’ve worked since I was 17 years old – He

trabajado desde que tengo 17 años

 She has cried all afternoon since she heard the news
– Ella ha llorado toda la tarde desde que oyó la noticia

 They have fought for 30 minutes – Ellos han

peleado por 30 minutos
As you can see, the difference between both tenses is subtle.
At times, you may even be able to use either tense
interchangeably.
Present Perfect Progressive in
Spanish: Exercises
Let’s finish with some simple exercises.

Change the following sentences in Present Perfect

Progressive to Present Perfect.

(scroll below for the answers)

1. Hemos estado teniendo mucho trabajo esta semana

(We’ve been having a lot of work this week)
2. Ella ha estado viendo televisión toda la tarde (She has
been watching television all afternoon)
3. El noticiero ha estado hablando de esa noticia todo el
día (The news has been talking about that news all day)
4. Nosotras hemos estado ensayando mucho para la
presentación (We have been rehearsing a lot for the
presentation)
5. Tu mamá te ha estado llamando mucho (Your mom has
been calling you a lot)
6. Ellos han estado comiendo muchos vegetales esta
semana (They have been eating a lot of vegetables this
week)
7. Nosotros hemos estado sembrando árboles (We have
been planting trees)
8. Ella ha estado yendo al médico todos los meses (She
has been going to the doctor every month)
 9. Ellos han estado escuchando esa música todo el día
(They’ve been listening to that music all day)
10. El jardinero ha estado regando las plantas (The
gardener has been watering the plants)

Answers
1.  Hemos tenido mucho trabajo esta semana
2. Ella ha visto televisión toda la tarde
3. El noticiero ha hablado de esa noticia todo el día
4. Nosotras hemos ensayado mucho para la presentación
5. Tu mamá te ha llamado mucho
6. Ellos han comido muchos vegetales esta semana
7. Nosotros hemos sembrado árboles
8. Ella ha ido al médico todos los meses
9. Ellos han escuchado esa música todo el día
10. El jardinero ha regado las plantas