Breakdown of Voy a hacer cola en la farmacia.
Questions & Answers about Voy a hacer cola en la farmacia.
Both are future, but they’re used differently.
- Voy a hacer cola = I’m going to queue (very common in spoken Spanish).
- Near future, intention or plan, something you’ve decided or is about to happen.
- Haré cola = I will queue.
- More neutral or formal future, often for predictions, promises, or more distant future.
In everyday speech in Spain, ir a + infinitive (here: voy a hacer) is much more common when talking about plans you’re about to carry out.
Literally, hacer cola is to make tail (since cola means tail as well as queue).
It’s just an idiomatic expression:
- hacer cola = to stand in line / to queue
Spanish often uses hacer in idioms where English doesn’t:
- hacer cola – to queue
- hacer ejercicio – to exercise
- hacer daño – to hurt (cause harm)
So you don’t think about “making a tail” when you say it; it just means to queue.
This is largely because hacer cola is a fixed expression.
- The usual, natural form in Spain is hacer cola (no article).
- Hacer la cola is heard in some regions and countries, but in standard Peninsular Spanish it can sound unusual or regional in this context.
Compare with other set expressions without an article:
- tener hambre (to be hungry), not tener la hambre
- hacer daño (to cause harm), not hacer el daño
So voy a hacer cola is the normal idiomatic choice.
They focus on different moments of the “queuing” process:
hacer cola
- General action: to queue / to stand in line.
- Covers the whole time you’re in the line.
ponerse a la cola
- Literally: to put oneself at the queue.
- Moment you go and join the queue: to get in line.
estar en la cola
- State: to be in the line.
- You are already standing there.
In your sentence, voy a hacer cola emphasizes the activity of queuing itself, not just the moment of joining or the state of already being there.
Because the focus is on where the action of queuing happens, not on movement toward the place.
- Voy a hacer cola en la farmacia.
- I’m going to queue at the pharmacy (location of the action).
You could also say:
- Voy a la farmacia a hacer cola.
- I’m going to the pharmacy (destination) to queue (purpose).
So:
- a la farmacia → movement to the pharmacy
- en la farmacia → action that happens at the pharmacy
Your sentence combines:
- movement toward an action: voy a hacer
- place where that action will happen: en la farmacia
It depends where you are:
In Spain, the normal word is cola for a queue.
- hacer cola is what people say.
- hacer fila will be understood but sounds Latin American.
In much of Latin America, fila is more common or at least very normal:
- hacer fila ≈ hacer cola.
If you’re learning Peninsular Spanish (Spain), use hacer cola.
Cola has both meanings:
- Tail (of an animal, or figuratively, like “a comet’s tail”).
- Queue / line of people.
Context tells you which one is meant.
- El perro no tiene cola. – The dog has no tail.
- Hay mucha cola en la farmacia. – There’s a long queue at the pharmacy.
In hacer cola, it always has the queue meaning.
You must use the article here; en farmacia is not correct in this sentence.
- Voy a hacer cola en la farmacia. ✅
- Voy a hacer cola en farmacia. ❌
In Spanish, specific places usually take the definite article:
- en la farmacia, en el banco, en el supermercado.
There are a few set exceptions without article:
- en casa, a casa
- en clase (sometimes), en misa, en prisión, etc.
But farmacia is not one of those exceptions, so you keep la.
Yes, but the meaning changes slightly:
Hago cola en la farmacia.
- More like: I queue at the pharmacy (habitually), or I’m queuing at the pharmacy in a very context‑dependent, present‑time way. On its own, it often sounds like a general statement.
Voy a hacer cola en la farmacia.
- I’m going to queue at the pharmacy (I intend to do it; near future plan).
So for a plan / intention, voy a hacer cola is more natural.
Hago cola tends to sound habitual unless the context clearly makes it present continuous.
You can, but you lose the specific idea of queuing.
Voy a la farmacia.
- I’m going to the pharmacy (maybe to buy something, ask a question, etc.; no mention of queuing).
Voy a hacer cola en la farmacia.
- You’re explicitly saying you expect to stand in line there.
Use the longer sentence when it matters that you’re going to have to queue.