LingoflyHow long ago and when: hace, desde, desde hace, dentro de
English has one 'ago' and one 'in'. Spanish keeps several phrases apart, and even fluent speakers mix them up. For example: “Nos mudamos hace diez años y vivimos aquí desde entonces” — We moved ten years ago and have lived here ever since. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
English has one 'ago' and one 'in'. Spanish keeps several phrases apart, and even fluent speakers mix them up.
Hace plus a stretch means 'ago', and the action is over: llegué hace dos años. The verb is past and hace never changes.
Desde hace plus a stretch means 'for … now', and the action continues: vivo aquí desde hace dos años. Plain desde is the starting point: desde enero, desde el lunes.
Dentro de plus a stretch means 'in', and only about the future: vuelvo dentro de una hora. For the past you say al cabo de una hora or una hora después. Dentro de cannot look back.
Table
| in English | in Spanish | about what |
|---|---|---|
| two years ago | hace dos años | it is over |
| for two years now | desde hace dos años | still going on |
| for two years now | llevo dos años + gerund | the same, shorter |
| since January | desde enero | the starting point |
| in an hour (will be) | dentro de una hora | future only |
| an hour later (it was) | al cabo de una hora | past only |
| for three weeks | durante tres semanas | can be dropped |
By example
- We moved ten years ago and have lived here ever since
- I have been waiting for half an hour and the train leaves in five minutes
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
How long ago and when: how does it work in Spanish?
English has one 'ago' and one 'in'. Spanish keeps several phrases apart, and even fluent speakers mix them up.
What does it look like in a Spanish example sentence?
“Nos mudamos hace diez años y vivimos aquí desde entonces” — We moved ten years ago and have lived here ever since. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.