Log inSign up

Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos del faro al atardecer.

Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos del faro al atardecer.
My cousin took twenty-three photos of the lighthouse at sunset.
FromLesson 97inHardcore Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos del faro al atardecer.

What does hizo mean here? I thought hacer meant to do or to make.

That is the basic meaning of hacer, but in Spanish it is also very common to use hacer with fotos to mean to take photos.

So:

  • hacer fotos = to take photos
  • hizo fotos = she took photos

In Spain, hacer fotos is very natural. You may also hear sacar fotos in some regions, and tomar fotos is common in many parts of Latin America.

Why is it veintitrés with an accent mark?

Veintitrés has a written accent because the stress falls on the last syllable: veintiTRÉS.

Spanish spelling rules require the accent mark here. Numbers like veintidós, veintitrés, and veintiséis all have written accents.

Why doesn’t veintitrés change form before fotos?

Unlike uno, numbers such as dos, tres, veinte, veintitrés, etc. do not change for gender.

So you say:

  • veintitrés fotos
  • veintitrés libros

Only numbers ending in uno often change before a noun:

  • veintiún libros
  • veintiuna fotos

But veintitrés stays the same.

What exactly does del faro mean here?

Here del faro means of the lighthouse or more naturally in English, of the lighthouse / of the lighthouse itself.

In context, it tells you what the photos were of. So the sentence means that the lighthouse was the subject of the photos.

It does not mean she took the photos from the lighthouse. For that idea, Spanish would use something like desde el faro.

Why is it del instead of de el?

Because de + el contracts to del in Spanish.

So:

  • de + el faro → del faro

This contraction is required in normal Spanish, except when El is part of a proper name, such as de El Escorial.

What does al atardecer mean, and why is it al?

Al atardecer means at sunset or toward sunset.

It is formed from:

  • a + el = al
  • atardecer = sunset / dusk, or literally nightfall

This phrase is very common in Spanish. It works almost like a time expression:

  • al amanecer = at dawn
  • al anochecer = at nightfall
  • al atardecer = at sunset
Why is there no article before atardecer?

Because in this expression, atardecer is being used in a fixed time phrase: al atardecer.

Spanish often uses these expressions without needing an extra noun article like English sometimes does. You just learn al atardecer as a set phrase meaning at sunset.

Why is the verb in the preterite, hizo, instead of the imperfect, hacía?

Hizo is the preterite of hacer, and it presents the action as a completed event in the past.

So Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos... means she took twenty-three photos as a finished action.

If you used hacía, it would sound more like background description, repeated habit, or an ongoing action in the past:

  • Mi prima hacía fotos del faro al atardecer.
    This could mean My cousin used to take photos of the lighthouse at sunset or was taking photos..., depending on context.

Because the sentence describes one completed event, hizo is the natural choice.

Is hizo irregular?

Yes. Hacer is irregular in the preterite.

The relevant forms are:

  • yo hice
  • tú hiciste
  • él/ella/usted hizo
  • nosotros hicimos
  • vosotros hicisteis
  • ellos/ellas/ustedes hicieron

A common learner mistake is hació, but that form is incorrect. The correct form is hizo.

Does mi prima specifically mean a female cousin?

Yes. Prima means female cousin. The masculine form is primo.

So:

  • mi prima = my female cousin
  • mi primo = my male cousin

Unlike English, Spanish often makes family words show gender directly.

Why doesn’t the sentence use ella? Shouldn’t it say Ella hizo...?

Spanish usually leaves out subject pronouns when the verb form already makes the subject clear.

In hizo, the verb already tells us the subject is he/she/you formal, and mi prima is explicitly named anyway, so ella is unnecessary.

  • Mi prima hizo... = perfectly natural
  • Ella hizo... = possible, but usually only if you want emphasis or contrast
Is the word order special here?

The word order is very natural and straightforward:

  • Mi prima = subject
  • hizo = verb
  • veintitrés fotos = direct object
  • del faro = what the photos were of
  • al atardecer = when

Spanish word order is somewhat flexible, but this version is the most neutral and natural. You could move elements around for emphasis, but not all rearrangements sound equally good.

For example:

  • Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos del faro al atardecer. = neutral
  • Al atardecer, mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos del faro. = emphasizes the time
Could fotos be replaced by fotografías?

Yes. Fotos is just the shorter, more common everyday form of fotografías.

So these mean the same thing:

  • Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos...
  • Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotografías...

In normal speech, fotos is much more common.

How is the sentence pronounced in Spain?

A simple pronunciation guide would be:

Mi PREE-ma EE-tho bayn-tee-TRAYS FO-tohs del FA-ro al a-tar-deh-THER

In standard Peninsular Spanish:

  • z in hizo and veintitrés sounds like the th in think
  • c before e/i also has that th sound in much of Spain
  • h in hizo is silent

So hizo sounds roughly like EE-tho in much of Spain.

AI Language TutorTry it ↗
Your avatar
“What's the best way to learn Spanish grammar?”
Spanish grammar becomes intuitive with practice. Focus on understanding the core patterns first — how sentences are structured, how verbs change form, and how words relate to each other. Our course breaks these concepts into small lessons so you can build understanding step by step.

Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor

Start learning Spanish

Master Spanish — from Mi prima hizo veintitrés fotos del faro al atardecer to fluency

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
  • ✓Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
  • ✓Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
  • ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions
Start learning Spanish →