Hace que in Spanish: how long and how long ago

The structure hace + time + que does two different jobs, and the verb tense tells you which one. With the present, it measures how long something HAS BEEN going on and is still true now: Hace dos años que vivo aquí means “I have lived here for two years” (and I still live here).

With the preterite, the same hace means “ago” — it points back to a finished event: Hace dos años que me mudé, or with the more common word order Me mudé hace dos años, both mean “I moved two years ago”. So read the verb first: an ongoing present means duration up to now, a completed preterite means how long ago.

How long something has been happening

When the action started in the past but continues now, use hace + time + que with a verb in the present. English reaches for the present perfect (“have been”), but Spanish keeps the simple present, because to a Spanish speaker the action is still happening.

Hace tres meses que trabajo aquí.
I have been working here for three months.

Hace media hora que te espero.
I have been waiting for you for half an hour.

Notice the present tense (trabajo, espero): the job and the waiting are ongoing right now.

Saying how long ago

To say how long ago something happened, use hace + time with a verb in the preterite. Two word orders are both natural and mean the same thing:

Hace una hora que llegué.
I arrived an hour ago.

Llegué hace una hora.
I arrived an hour ago.

The second order, with hace + time after the verb, is the most common in everyday speech.

Terminé el curso hace dos semanas.
I finished the course two weeks ago.

Asking the question

To ask about duration, use ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que...? with the present:

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que vives aquí?
How long have you been living here?

The short form ¿Cuánto hace que...? is common in speech and means the same:

¿Cuánto hace que estudias español?
How long have you been studying Spanish?

With a preterite verb, the same question asks how long ago something happened:

¿Cuánto tiempo hace que llegaste?
How long ago did you arrive?

Two natural alternatives

Spanish has two other common ways to express ongoing duration. Use llevar + gerund for “have been doing”:

Llevo dos años viviendo aquí.
I have been living here for two years.

Use desde hace for “for / since” with the present:

Vivo aquí desde hace dos años.
I have lived here for two years.

All three — Hace dos años que vivo aquí, Llevo dos años viviendo aquí, and Vivo aquí desde hace dos años — say the same thing.

Common mistakes

Calquing the English present perfect with por

English “I have lived here for two years” tempts a word-for-word he vivido… por, but Spanish uses the present with hace...que or desde hace.

He vivido aquí por dos años. → Hace dos años que vivo aquí.
I have lived here for two years.
The action is still true now, so Spanish uses the present, not the present perfect.

Using por for ongoing duration

For duration that reaches the present, desde hace or hace...que sounds natural where por does not.

Estudio español por seis meses. → Estudio español desde hace seis meses.
I have been studying Spanish for six months.
Ongoing duration up to now takes desde hace, not por.

Mixing present (ongoing) with preterite (ago)

The tense changes the meaning, so pick it on purpose. The present says you are still there; the preterite says it is a finished past event.

Hace dos años que vivo aquí. → still here now.
Hace dos años que me mudé. → I moved two years ago (a past event).
Same hace dos años, but vivo continues and me mudé is over.

Once you can read the verb first and pick duration or “ago”, the next step is building real time statements out loud. Fluera drills exactly this in short sentences about plans and schedules, so you choose the tense for the situation and hear the answer; you can practice Spanish one time statement at a time.

Practice