Hacer — "to do, to make" — is one of the four or five most-used verbs in the language and one of the most thoroughly irregular. Within a single paradigm it manages to display almost every kind of irregularity Spanish has on offer: a yo-go present (hago), a u-stem preterite with an orthographic c→z alternation (hice, hiciste, hizo), a dropped-vowel future (haré, not haceré), an irregular past participle (hecho, not hacido), and a short irregular tú imperative (haz). On top of all that, hacer is the workhorse of countless fixed expressions covering weather, time elapsed, causation, and pretending.
Pedagogically, hacer is worth the same level of attention as ser, estar, tener, and ir: you will encounter it in every conversation, and getting its forms wrong is immediately conspicuous.
Non-finite forms
| Form | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitivo | hacer | to do, to make |
| Infinitivo compuesto | haber hecho | to have done / made |
| Gerundio | haciendo | doing, making |
| Gerundio compuesto | habiendo hecho | having done / made |
| Participio | hecho (irregular) | done, made |
The participle hecho is critical to memorise — every compound tense and every passive construction relies on it. Note that hecho is also a noun (un hecho — a fact) and an interjection (¡hecho! — done deal!), with the same spelling and pronunciation. Do not confuse with the verb echar (to throw) — echo (I throw) has no h and is a different verb entirely.
Indicative — simple tenses
Presente
| yo | tú | él/ella/usted | nosotros | vosotros | ellos/ellas/ustedes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hago | haces | hace | hacemos | hacéis | hacen |
The yo form hago is the classic "yo-go" pattern shared with tener (tengo), poner (pongo), salir (salgo), valer (valgo), venir (vengo), decir (digo), oír (oigo). The remaining five forms are regular -er endings on the stem hac-.
¿Qué hacéis este fin de semana? ¿Os apetece ir a la sierra?
What are you doing this weekend? Fancy going up to the mountains?
No hago más que pensar en lo que me dijiste ayer.
I can't stop thinking about what you told me yesterday.
Pretérito perfecto simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hice | hiciste | hizo | hicimos | hicisteis | hicieron |
The preterite stem is hic-, with the same "strong" (unstressed-ending) pattern as poder/pude, poner/puse, saber/supe, tener/tuve: the stress falls on the stem in yo and él forms, hence hice and hizo are unaccented. Note the critical spelling change: hizo, with z, not hico with c. Spanish spelling rules forbid c before o (which would force a /k/ sound), so the c becomes z to preserve the /θ/ sound (or /s/ in seseante varieties). This is the only person in the paradigm where the spelling alternates — all others keep c: hice, hiciste, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron.
Ayer hice una paella para diez personas y desapareció en quince minutos.
Yesterday I made a paella for ten people and it disappeared in fifteen minutes.
¿Quién hizo este desastre en la cocina?
Who made this mess in the kitchen?
Pretérito imperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hacía | hacías | hacía | hacíamos | hacíais | hacían |
The imperfect is regular for -er verbs — built on the stem hac- with endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían. All forms carry an obligatory accent on the í.
De niños hacíamos cabañas en el jardín con sábanas y palos.
As kids we used to make forts in the garden with sheets and sticks.
Futuro simple
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haré | harás | hará | haremos | haréis | harán |
The future stem is har- — the ce of hacer drops, just like decir/diré, poder/podré, querer/querré, saber/sabré. This dropped-vowel pattern is a feature of a handful of high-frequency verbs and must be memorised. The endings -é, -ás, -á, -emos, -éis, -án are identical for every Spanish verb in the future.
Mañana haré la mudanza, así que no contéis conmigo para nada.
Tomorrow I'll do the move, so don't count on me for anything.
Condicional
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haría | harías | haría | haríamos | haríais | harían |
Same har- stem as the future, with the conditional endings -ía, -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, -ían.
Yo no haría eso ni aunque me pagaras.
I wouldn't do that even if you paid me.
Indicative — compound tenses
All compound tenses pair haber with the irregular participle hecho.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| he hecho | has hecho | ha hecho | hemos hecho | habéis hecho | han hecho |
In peninsular Spanish this is the default tense for things done earlier today or within a still-current period: Esta mañana he hecho la compra, not Esta mañana hice la compra.
Hoy he hecho tantas cosas que ya no me tengo en pie.
I've done so many things today I can't even stand up anymore.
Pretérito pluscuamperfecto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| había hecho | habías hecho | había hecho | habíamos hecho | habíais hecho | habían hecho |
Cuando llegamos, ya habían hecho la cena y nos esperaban en la mesa.
When we arrived, they'd already made dinner and were waiting for us at the table.
Futuro compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habré hecho | habrás hecho | habrá hecho | habremos hecho | habréis hecho | habrán hecho |
Condicional compuesto
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| habría hecho | habrías hecho | habría hecho | habríamos hecho | habríais hecho | habrían hecho |
De haberlo sabido, habría hecho las cosas de otra manera.
Had I known, I'd have done things differently.
Subjunctive — simple tenses
Presente de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haga | hagas | haga | hagamos | hagáis | hagan |
The present subjunctive is built on the yo-go stem hag- — a universal rule for yo-go verbs: whatever the yo form is, drop the -o and add the opposite-vowel endings. So hago → hag- → haga, hagas, haga, hagamos, hagáis, hagan.
Quiero que hagáis los deberes antes de cenar, ¿está claro?
I want you all to do your homework before dinner, is that clear?
Aunque haga frío mañana, pienso ir a correr de todas formas.
Even if it's cold tomorrow, I'm going for a run anyway.
Imperfecto de subjuntivo (-ra / -se)
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hiciera | hicieras | hiciera | hiciéramos | hicierais | hicieran |
| -se | hiciese | hicieses | hiciese | hiciésemos | hicieseis | hiciesen |
Both sets are built on the preterite stem hic- (with regular c, not z — the z only appears before o). The -ra forms dominate in spoken Spain; -se forms are more formal/literary but fully current in writing.
Si hiciera el favor de cerrar la ventana, se lo agradeceríamos.
If you'd be so kind as to close the window, we'd appreciate it.
Subjunctive — compound tenses
Pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| haya hecho | hayas hecho | haya hecho | hayamos hecho | hayáis hecho | hayan hecho |
Es increíble que hayáis hecho todo eso en una sola tarde.
It's incredible you all did all that in a single afternoon.
Pluscuamperfecto de subjuntivo
| yo | tú | él | nosotros | vosotros | ellos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ra | hubiera hecho | hubieras hecho | hubiera hecho | hubiéramos hecho | hubierais hecho | hubieran hecho |
| -se | hubiese hecho | hubieses hecho | hubiese hecho | hubiésemos hecho | hubieseis hecho | hubiesen hecho |
Si hubiéramos hecho caso al guía, no nos habríamos perdido.
If we'd listened to the guide, we wouldn't have got lost.
Imperative
| Form | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| tú | haz | no hagas |
| usted | haga | no haga |
| nosotros | hagamos | no hagamos |
| vosotros | haced | no hagáis |
| ustedes | hagan | no hagan |
The affirmative tú imperative haz is irregular and must be memorised — one of the eight notorious short imperatives (di, haz, pon, ten, sal, ven, ve, sé). Without the z, haz would be just ha, which is ambiguous with the verb haber.
The vosotros form haced follows the universal rule (drop infinitive -r, add -d). Note that with reflexive pronouns the -d drops: hacerlo + vosotros affirmative + clitic lo gives hacedlo (do it!) — but in the reflexive hacerse the vosotros form is haceos (the d falls before os).
Haz lo que te diga el médico y verás cómo te recuperas pronto.
Do what the doctor tells you and you'll see how quickly you recover.
No hagas eso delante de los niños, por favor.
Don't do that in front of the children, please.
Haced la cama antes de bajar a desayunar.
Make your beds before coming down for breakfast.
Hacer in weather, time, and causation
Hacer is the engine of three huge expression families:
Weather (impersonal, third-person-singular): Hace frío, hace calor, hace sol, hace viento, hace fresco, hace bueno, hace malo. Always hace — no agreement. To intensify, add an adjective: Hace mucho frío / Hace un frío que pela (it's freezing cold).
Time elapsed (impersonal): Hace dos años que vivo aquí — I've lived here for two years. Hace tres meses que no la veo — I haven't seen her for three months. The construction is Hace + time + que + verb. Alternative order: Verb + desde hace + time — Vivo aquí desde hace dos años.
Causation (hacer + infinitive or hacer + que + subjunctive): Me hizo reír — He made me laugh. Hizo que se fuera — He made her leave / had her leave. The infinitive construction is tighter and more common with short causations; the que + subjunctive is used when the agent and the affected party are clearly separate.
Hace un frío que pela esta mañana, ponte el abrigo bueno.
It's bitterly cold this morning — put your good coat on.
Hace tres años que estudio español y todavía me cuesta el subjuntivo.
I've been studying Spanish for three years and the subjunctive is still hard for me.
Esa película me hizo llorar como un crío.
That film made me cry like a baby.
High-frequency collocations from peninsular Spanish
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| hacer caso (a alguien) | to pay attention to / listen to (someone) |
| hacer la compra | to do the grocery shopping |
| hacer la cama | to make the bed |
| hacer cola | to queue, wait in line |
| hacer falta | to be needed (impersonal: hace falta dinero) |
| hacer daño | to hurt (someone or something) |
| hacerse el sueco / la sueca | to play dumb (literally: to play the Swede) |
| hacer pellas / hacer novillos | to skip school (informal Spain) |
| hacer puente | to take a long weekend by joining a holiday with the weekend |
| ¿qué le vamos a hacer? | (resigned) what can you do? |
| hecho y derecho | fully-fledged, grown-up |
Hacer puente is a quintessentially Spanish institution: when a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, you take Monday or Friday off too to bridge it to the weekend — a puente (bridge). Hacerse el sueco — "to play the Swede" — is the standard idiom for pretending not to notice or understand something inconvenient.
No te hagas el sueco, sabes perfectamente de qué estoy hablando.
Don't play dumb — you know perfectly well what I'm talking about.
Este puente nos vamos a la sierra, hace un tiempo precioso.
This long weekend we're going to the mountains — the weather is gorgeous.
The classic English-speaker error: hacer vs hacerse
English uses "make" causatively (I made him laugh) and also for "to do" things (do the dishes, do homework) — Spanish splits these into hacer (do/make) and a whole family of -se constructions (hacerse — to become, to make oneself, to pretend to be). English speakers reliably under-use hacerse and over-use the simple hacer.
- Se hizo médico — He became a doctor. (NOT Hizo médico.)
- Se hizo viejo de repente — He suddenly got old. (NOT Hizo viejo.)
- No te hagas el tonto — Don't pretend to be stupid. (NOT No hagas el tonto, which means "don't act stupid" in a different sense.)
The hacerse + noun/adjective construction expresses inchoative becoming — a change of state, often gradual, often by effort or choice. The plain hacer is for doing things or making objects.
Common Mistakes
❌ Yo haré la tarea.
The verb is fine but the noun is Latin American. In Spain, school assignments are deberes, not tarea (which can mean a task more generally but sounds odd for homework). 'Voy a hacer los deberes.'
✅ Voy a hacer los deberes.
I'm going to do my homework.
❌ Hace muy frío hoy.
With weather nouns, intensifiers are mucho/poco, not muy. 'Hace mucho frío,' not 'hace muy frío.'
✅ Hace mucho frío hoy.
It's very cold today.
❌ Él hico la cena anoche.
The yo and él preterite forms are 'hice' and 'hizo' — note the orthographic c→z change before o. Hico does not exist.
✅ Él hizo la cena anoche.
He made dinner last night.
❌ He hacido tres exámenes esta semana.
The participle of hacer is irregular: hecho, not hacido. 'He hecho tres exámenes.'
✅ He hecho tres exámenes esta semana.
I've taken three exams this week.
❌ Hace tú la cena esta noche.
The affirmative tú imperative of hacer is the short irregular form haz. Without the z it would collide with the verb haber.
✅ Haz tú la cena esta noche.
You make dinner tonight.
Key Takeaways
- Hacer has four irregular stems: hac- (default), hag- (yo present and entire present subjunctive), hic-/hiz- (preterite and imperfect subjunctive — note the z only in hizo), har- (future and conditional).
- The participle is irregular: hecho. Every compound tense and every passive uses it.
- The tú affirmative imperative is haz — a short irregular form. The vosotros imperative is haced (regular -d ending).
- Hacer anchors three huge expression families: weather (hace frío, hace sol), time elapsed (hace tres años que…), and causation (hacer + infinitive).
- Distinguish hacer (to do, to make) from hacerse (to become, to pretend to be) — English speakers under-use the reflexive.
- The peninsular pretérito perfecto (he hecho) is the default for today's events, not the simple preterite.
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