When there is no subject
Some sentences have no actor at all. English props them up with a dummy subject — 'it's cold', 'they say'; Spanish puts the verb in the third person singular and leaves it at that. Weather runs through the verb hacer — 'to do': hace frío, hace calor, hace viento, hace buen tiempo. There is nothing to conjugate: the form is always 'hace', and hacen frío is impossible even about several days. For example: “Hace frío y…
How it works
Some sentences have no actor at all. English props them up with a dummy subject — 'it's cold', 'they say'; Spanish puts the verb in the third person singular and leaves it at that. Weather runs through the verb hacer — 'to do': hace frío, hace calor, hace viento, hace buen tiempo. There is nothing to conjugate: the form is always 'hace', and hacen frío is impossible even about several days.
Not all weather is like that. What you feel on the skin goes through hacer; what you see goes through hay: hay niebla, hay nubes, hay humedad. And rain and snow are separate verbs with no subject at all: llueve, nieva. Three ways to speak about the weather, and the split between them has to be memorized as a list.
The second impersonal turn is hay que + infinitive: necessary in general, for everyone and no one in particular. Hay que validar el billete, hay que sacar la basura. The third is se before a verb in the third person: se dice, se vende, se puede, se prohíbe. This is the most frequent way to say 'they say', 'for sale', 'not allowed', and it is the form of every sign and notice. If the thing in question is plural, the verb follows it: se venden pisos.
And the fourth, which only looks impersonal: me parece, me gusta, me duele. There is a subject here, but it is not the person — it is the thing: word-for-word 'it seems to me', 'it pleases me'. So the verb agrees with the thing, and the person stands to the side as a short pronoun: me gustan las fiestas, nos parecen caros. English 'I think so' arrives here upside down: me parece que sí.
Table
| turn of phrase | word for word | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| hace frío | it makes cold | it's cold |
| hay niebla | there is fog | fog |
| llueve | it rains | it's raining |
| hay que salir | one has to leave | you have to leave |
| se dice | it says itself | they say |
| se venden pisos | flats sell themselves | flats for sale |
| me parece bien | it seems good to me | I think it's fine |
By example
- Hace frío y hay niebla, mejor vamos en metroIt's cold and foggy — better we take the metro
- Aquí se dice que hay que llegar antes de las nueveHere they say you have to arrive before nine
- ¿Qué te parece la idea? — Me parece bienWhat do you think of the idea? — Seems fine to me
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
When there is no subject: how does it work in Spanish?
Some sentences have no actor at all. English props them up with a dummy subject — 'it's cold', 'they say'; Spanish puts the verb in the third person singular and leaves it at that. Weather runs through the verb hacer — 'to do': hace frío, hace calor, hace viento, hace buen tiempo. There is nothing…
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“Hace frío y hay niebla, mejor vamos en metro” — It's cold and foggy — better we take the metro. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.