Breakdown of En este puerto pequeño casi no hay olas cuando hace buen tiempo.
Questions & Answers about En este puerto pequeño casi no hay olas cuando hace buen tiempo.
In Spanish, the default position for descriptive adjectives is after the noun, so:
- este puerto pequeño = this small port
However, you can also say este pequeño puerto. The difference is subtle:
- este puerto pequeño: more neutral, descriptive (just saying the port happens to be small).
- este pequeño puerto: slightly more subjective; it can sound a bit more expressive, emotional, or literary, as if the smallness is being highlighted as a characteristic.
In everyday speech, este puerto pequeño is perfectly natural and common. Both are correct.
Hay is the impersonal form of haber used to mean "there is / there are".
- hay olas = there are waves
- no hay olas = there are no waves / there aren’t any waves
- casi no hay olas = there are almost no waves / there are hardly any waves
You don’t use ser (son) or estar (están) here because you’re not describing the waves, you’re talking about their existence or presence in general. For existence, Spanish uses haber (hay).
Casi no hay olas literally means “there are almost no waves”.
Nuance in English:
- hardly any waves
- almost no waves
- practically no waves
It doesn’t mean absolutely zero waves, but very few, so few that conditions are very calm.
Yes, no hay casi olas is grammatically correct and means almost the same thing: there are hardly any waves.
But there is a nuance of focus:
- casi no hay olas: the speaker is emphasizing the negation (almost there aren’t waves).
- no hay casi olas: the speaker is emphasizing “almost” with olas (there are no almost waves / there are hardly any waves).
In everyday speech, casi no hay olas is more natural and more common. It’s the one you should prefer.
Both mean something like “waves,” but they are used differently.
- ola: a wave in the sea, ocean, lake, etc. (physical wave of water)
- olas del mar = sea waves
- onda: a more general “wave,” often scientific or abstract:
- ondas de radio = radio waves
- ondas sonoras = sound waves
For the movement of the sea at a beach or port, you almost always use olas.
Spanish uses the verb hacer for many weather expressions:
- Hace buen tiempo = The weather is good.
- Hace mal tiempo = The weather is bad.
- Hace frío = It’s cold.
- Hace calor = It’s hot.
So hace here doesn’t mean “makes” in a literal sense; it’s just part of a fixed weather expression.
You could say el tiempo es bueno, but hace buen tiempo is much more idiomatic and common in everyday speech for talking about current weather conditions.
buen tiempo (singular tiempo):
- In this context: good weather
- Hace buen tiempo = The weather is good.
buenos tiempos (plural tiempos):
- Usually refers to good times in a more emotional or nostalgic sense:
- Vivimos buenos tiempos. = We’re living in good times.
- Eran buenos tiempos. = Those were good times.
So in the sentence, buen tiempo clearly means good weather, not “good times.”
The adjective bueno normally comes after the noun:
- tiempo bueno = good weather
But when bueno is placed before a singular masculine noun, it shortens to buen:
- buen tiempo
- buen amigo
- buen día
So:
- bueno tiempo ❌ (incorrect)
- buen tiempo ✅ (correct, because tiempo is masculine and singular and the adjective is before the noun)
This has to do with whether you’re talking about a general/habitual situation or about a future/uncertain situation.
Cuando hace buen tiempo, vamos a la playa.
When the weather is good, we go to the beach.
→ General, habitual situation (whenever the weather is good, in general).Cuando haga buen tiempo, iremos a la playa.
When the weather is good, we’ll go to the beach.
→ Future, not yet realized; depends on whether the weather gets good.
In your sentence:
- En este puerto pequeño casi no hay olas cuando hace buen tiempo.
This describes what typically happens in that port under good weather conditions, so present indicative (hace) is correct.
Both orders are grammatically correct:
- En este puerto pequeño casi no hay olas cuando hace buen tiempo.
- Cuando hace buen tiempo, en este puerto pequeño casi no hay olas.
The choice is mainly a matter of style and emphasis:
- Ending with cuando hace buen tiempo leaves the condition (good weather) as extra information.
- Beginning with Cuando hace buen tiempo emphasizes the condition first, like in English: “When the weather is good, …”
Spanish is quite flexible with clause order, as long as the sentence is clear.
Here, en means “in / at”:
- en este puerto = in this port / at this port
Other prepositions would change the meaning:
- a este puerto = to this port (direction, movement toward)
- por este puerto = around this port / through this port (movement in the area or cause)
You’re talking about a location where there are hardly any waves, so en is the correct preposition.
Yes, adjectives in Spanish must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe.
- puerto: masculine, singular
→ puerto pequeño
If it were plural:
- puertos pequeños = small ports
- En estos puertos pequeños casi no hay olas...
Adjective endings:
- Masculine singular: pequeño
- Feminine singular: pequeña
- Masculine plural: pequeños
- Feminine plural: pequeñas
Yes, you can say:
- En este puerto pequeño apenas hay olas cuando hace buen tiempo.
Both casi no hay olas and apenas hay olas mean roughly “there are hardly any waves.”
Nuance:
- casi no hay olas: literally “there are almost no waves,” slightly more neutral.
- apenas hay olas: can sound a bit more emphatic or literary, but it’s still common in everyday speech.
Both are correct and natural; casi no hay olas might feel a bit more colloquial in many contexts.