Breakdown of Desde hace dos años, mi profesora opina que mi pronunciación mejora mucho en la universidad.
Questions & Answers about Desde hace dos años, mi profesora opina que mi pronunciación mejora mucho en la universidad.
In Spanish, desde hace + period of time is normally followed by the present tense to express an action that started in the past and is still true now.
- Desde hace dos años, mi profesora opina…
= For the last two years / Since two years ago, my teacher thinks… (and she still thinks it now)
Using a past tense would sound like her opinion is no longer valid. So:
- Desde hace dos años, mi profesora opina… ✅
- Desde hace dos años, mi profesora opinaba… ❌ (would sound strange here)
Not exactly:
Hace dos años que mi profesora opina… ✅
This is an alternative structure with the same meaning as Desde hace dos años, mi profesora opina…Por dos años / durante dos años talk about the duration, often seen as a more closed period (like “for two years” in the past), not something that clearly continues to now. So:
- Durante dos años, mi profesora opinó… sounds more like For two years, my teacher thought… (and maybe she doesn’t anymore).
To express “for the last two years (and still now)”, the natural options are:
- Desde hace dos años, mi profesora opina…
- Hace dos años que mi profesora opina…
All three introduce an opinion, but there are small nuances:
- opina que – focuses on giving an opinion, sometimes a bit more formal or “judgment-like.”
- piensa que – literally “thinks that”; very common and neutral.
- cree que – literally “believes that”; can imply belief or conviction.
In this sentence, you could also say:
- Desde hace dos años, mi profesora piensa que… ✅
- Desde hace dos años, mi profesora cree que… ✅
The meaning would be practically the same in everyday usage.
All are possible, but they focus on slightly different things:
mi pronunciación mejora mucho (present)
Emphasises an ongoing process: your pronunciation is improving a lot (it keeps getting better).mi pronunciación ha mejorado mucho (present perfect)
Emphasises the result up to now: your pronunciation has improved a lot (compared with the past).mi pronunciación es mucho mejor (present with ser)
States the result as a current comparison: your pronunciation is much better (now than before).
The original sentence highlights a process that your teacher has been noticing over time, so mejora fits that idea of continuous improvement.
Mucho and muy modify different kinds of words:
muy goes before adjectives and adverbs:
- muy bueno (very good)
- muy rápidamente (very quickly)
mucho goes with verbs and nouns:
- trabaja mucho (he works a lot)
- mucho trabajo (a lot of work)
In the sentence we have a verb, mejora, so we use mucho:
- mi pronunciación mejora mucho = my pronunciation improves a lot
Muy mejora is incorrect; the adverb has to match the type of word.
With affirmative statements of opinion (like opina que, piensa que, cree que) Spanish normally uses the indicative, because the speaker is presenting the statement as true or real:
- Mi profesora opina que mi pronunciación mejora… ✅ (indicative: mejora)
The subjunctive is used when the opinion is negated or questioned:
- Mi profesora no opina que mi pronunciación mejore… ✅ (subjunctive: mejore)
- ¿Opina que mi pronunciación mejore? (less common, but possible in some contexts)
So in your sentence, the indicative mejora is exactly what you want.
Yes, that word order is grammatically correct:
- Mi profesora opina que mi pronunciación mejora mucho en la universidad desde hace dos años. ✅
However:
- At the beginning, Desde hace dos años, … sounds a bit more natural and emphasises the time frame.
- At the end, it is still fine but can feel slightly heavier, because the time expression ends the long sentence.
Both are acceptable in normal speech and writing.
Yes, Spanish allows fairly flexible word order as long as the meaning stays clear. These are all fine:
- Mi profesora opina que en la universidad mi pronunciación mejora mucho.
- Mi profesora opina que mi pronunciación mejora mucho en la universidad.
- Mi profesora opina que mi pronunciación, en la universidad, mejora mucho. (with commas, more written/literary)
The differences are mainly about emphasis:
- Starting with en la universidad highlights the place: at the university (not elsewhere).
- Keeping mi pronunciación first keeps the focus on your pronunciation.
Spanish nouns for many professions change ending according to gender:
- el profesor (male teacher)
- la profesora (female teacher)
With possessive adjectives, you don’t change mi; you change the noun:
- mi profesor = my (male) teacher
- mi profesora = my (female) teacher
In the sentence, mi profesora tells us the teacher is female.
Yes, pronunciación is a feminine noun.
- Definite article: la pronunciación (the pronunciation)
- Possessive: mi pronunciación (my pronunciation)
Many nouns ending in -ción are feminine:
- la información
- la situación
- la conversación
So you say mi pronunciación, tu pronunciación, su pronunciación, all with a feminine noun.
In Spanish, institutions like universidad, escuela, hospital, etc., normally take an article when used in this kind of sentence:
- en la universidad
- en la escuela
- en el hospital
English often drops the article (at school, at university), but Spanish usually requires it. Saying en universidad sounds incomplete or wrong in standard Spanish.
They are related but not identical:
- pronunciación = pronunciation in general: how you say sounds, syllables, words.
- acento = accent, typically the overall sound pattern of your speech (including rhythm, intonation, and how “native” you sound).
Examples:
Mi pronunciación mejora mucho.
Your sounds and words are becoming clearer and more correct.Mi acento suena más español.
Your overall accent sounds more Spanish, less foreign.
In many everyday contexts people might talk about acento when they really mean “how you sound,” but pronunciación is more precise for learning to articulate words correctly.