fa temps
“fa temps” — long ago in Catalan. Adverb, level A1, topic — time, days and hours. Literally 'time makes': fa temps. Fa temps que visc aquí — I have lived here a long time: time does its work. In a live sentence: “Fa temps que no veig la mar” — I haven't seen the sea in a long time. One of 160 words in the set “time, days and hours” in the Catalan course.
In short
| Written in Catalan | fa temps |
| Translation | long ago |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Literally 'time makes': fa temps. Fa temps que visc aquí — I have lived here a long time: time does its work
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Fa temps que no veig la marI haven't seen the sea in a long time
Nearby words: time, days and hours
Today, tomorrow, in the morning, at six. You cannot arrange to meet without these — let alone understand the answer.
- el matímorningIts own word — unlike Spanish, where the morning hides inside mañana. Al matí — in the mornings: this is how any day's story begins
- el diadayMasculine despite the -a: el dia, bon dia. One of the main gender exceptions
- avuitodayStress at the end: uh-BOO-ee. Avui en dia is "these days", not "today at noon"
- demàtomorrowFrom the Latin de mane, 'from morning': tomorrow is what arrives with the new morning. The morning itself is el matí, a word of its own
- ahiryesterdayStress at the end: uh-EER. Abans-d'ahir — the day before yesterday, literally 'before yesterday'
- la tardaafternoonTarda stretches from lunch to dark: the second half of the day and the early evening. After dark, la nit begins
- la nitnightIt starts at dark, so a ten o'clock dinner is already a la nit. Hence bona nit too
- l'horahourBoth the hour as a measure and the time on the clock: quina hora és? And 'one o'clock' is already la una, feminine
- primer de totfirst of allLiterally "first of everything": the counting of thoughts begins. Second of all is already near — en segon lloc
- en segon llocsecondlyLiterally "in second place": thoughts line up by places, as on a podium. Next: en tercer lloc — if the arguments last
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “time, days and hours”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “long ago” in Catalan?
Literally 'time makes': fa temps. Fa temps que visc aquí — I have lived here a long time: time does its work
- How do you say “night” in Catalan?
It starts at dark, so a ten o'clock dinner is already a la nit. Hence bona nit too
- How do you say “today” in Catalan?
Stress at the end: uh-BOO-ee. Avui en dia is "these days", not "today at noon"
- How do you say “secondly” in Catalan?
Literally "in second place": thoughts line up by places, as on a podium. Next: en tercer lloc — if the arguments last
- How do you say “afternoon” in Catalan?
Tarda stretches from lunch to dark: the second half of the day and the early evening. After dark, la nit begins
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “long ago” in Catalan?
«fa temps». In a live sentence: “Fa temps que no veig la mar” — I haven't seen the sea in a long time. Adverb, level A1, from the set “time, days and hours”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Literally 'time makes': fa temps. Fa temps que visc aquí — I have lived here a long time: time does its work. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.