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Spanish (Latin America)

### "Hacía... que" and Duration in the Past

To express how long an action *had been* happening up to a certain point in the past, Spanish uses a specific structure involving the verb **hacer** and the **imperfect** tense.

While English typically uses the past perfect continuous ("I had been doing..."), Spanish uses this formula:

- **Hacía** + time expression + **que** + [verb in imperfect]

By using **hacía**, you set the background time frame. The main verb must be in the imperfect tense because it describes an action that was still ongoing at that moment in the past.

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Because this structure describes an ongoing state or background action, it is highly useful for setting the scene in a narrative, such as describing the realities of surviving on a deserted island.

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### Negative Duration

To express how long it had been since an action last occurred—meaning the action *had not* been happening for that amount of time—simply place **no** immediately before the conjugated main verb.

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### Setting the Scene

In storytelling, you will frequently see this structure used to establish how long a situation had been going on before another event happened or a certain condition took hold.

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Duration in the past (hacía ... que)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

expression

interjection

noun

numeral

prep

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (yo soy)

Noun gender and definite articles (el, la)

Basic sentences and negation (no)

Indefinite articles (un, una)

Formal and informal you (tú vs. usted)

Plural pronouns and the verb to be (somos, son)

Making nouns plural (-s, -es)

Plural articles (los, las, unos, unas)

Noun gender exceptions

Adjective agreement

Invariable adjectives

State and location (estar)

Ser vs. estar

There is / there are (hay)

Hay vs. estar

To have (tener)

Possession (de)

Possessive adjectives (mi, tu, su)

Regular -ar verbs

Yes/No questions

What and who (qué, quién)

Regular -er verbs

Regular -ir verbs

Asking where (dónde, adónde)

How, when, and why (cómo, cuándo, por qué)

How much and how many (cuánto)

Days of the week

Going to a place (ir a)

Preposition contractions (al, del)

In and by (en)

With me and with you (conmigo, contigo)

Prepositional pronouns (mí, ti)

Conjunctions (y, o, pero)

Giving reasons (porque)

Stem-changing verbs (e to ie)

Stem-changing verbs (o to ue)

Stem-changing verbs (e to i)

Irregular yo forms (hago, salgo)

To know (saber vs. conocer)

Weather expressions (hace, está)

Desires and plans (querer)

Ability and requests (poder)

Obligations (tener que)

Expressing likes (me gusta)

Plural likes (me gustan)

Verbs like gustar (encantar, doler)

Very vs. a lot (muy, mucho)

Numbers 0 to 15 (cero, uno, dos…)

Numbers 16 to 31 (dieciséis, veinte…)

Numbers 30 to 1000 (treinta, cien, mil)

Months of the year (enero, febrero, marzo)

Seasons and dates (el dos de mayo)

Telling time (es la..., son las...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primero, segundo, tercero)

Reflexive pronouns and verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Direct object pronouns (lo, la, los, las)

The near future (ir a)

The present continuous (estar + -ando, -iendo)

Near demonstrative adjectives (este, esta, estos, estas)

Medium demonstrative adjectives (ese, esa, esos, esas)

Comparatives of inequality (más / menos ... que)

Comparatives of equality (tan ... como)

Indefinite and negative pronouns (algo, nada, alguien, nadie)

Affirmative commands

Far demonstratives (aquel, aquella)

Possessive pronouns (el mío, el tuyo)

Shortened indefinite adjectives (algún, ningún)

Adverbs of quantity (demasiado, bastante)

Adverbs of frequency (a menudo, a veces)

Adverb formation (-mente)

Exclamations (¡Qué...!)

Irregular comparatives (mejor, peor, mayor, menor)

Relative superlatives (el más... de)

Adjective intensification (-ísimo)

Indirect object pronouns

Pronoun placement with infinitives

Double object pronouns (me lo, te la)

The 'se lo' rule (se lo, se la)

Impersonal statements (se)

Impersonal obligation (hay que)

Personal obligation (deber)

Starting actions (empezar a)

Finishing and quitting actions (terminar de, dejar de)

Repeating actions (volver a)

Continuing actions (seguir + gerundio)

Question	Answer
castaway	el náufrago
The castaway had been living alone for two years.	Hacía dos años que el náufrago vivía solo.
to hallucinate	alucinar
The castaway started to hallucinate due to the heat.	El náufrago empezó a alucinar por el calor.
He had been hallucinating about the ships for a long time.	Hacía mucho tiempo que él alucinaba con los barcos.
raft	la balsa
I had been building the raft for a month.	Hacía un mes que yo construía la balsa.
One stops hoping when the raft sinks.	Uno deja de esperar cuando la balsa se hunde.
shore	la orilla
He had not been walking along the shore for weeks.	Hacía semanas que él no caminaba por la orilla.
survivor	el superviviente
The survivor had been sleeping on the shore for three days.	Hacía tres días que el superviviente dormía en la orilla.
to go mad	enloquecer
The survivor started to go mad on the island.	El superviviente empezó a enloquecer en la isla.
The man had been suffering from loneliness for a year.	Hacía un año que el hombre sufría por la soledad.
despair	la desesperanza
Despair arrived when they stopped looking for him.	La desesperanza llegó cuando dejaron de buscarlo.
Despair had been dominating his mind for hours.	Hacía horas que la desesperanza dominaba su mente.
immensity	la inmensidad
One looks at the immensity and starts to cry.	Uno mira la inmensidad y empieza a llorar.
I had been looking at the immensity of the sea for five days.	Hacía cinco días que yo miraba la inmensidad del mar.
palm tree	la palmera
He had been resting under the palm tree for a week.	Hacía una semana que él descansaba debajo de la palmera.
The castaway started to climb the palm tree yesterday.	El náufrago empezó a escalar la palmera ayer.
coconut	el coco
He had been drinking coconut water for a month.	Hacía un mes que él bebía agua de coco.
One stops being thirsty upon eating coconut.	Uno deja de tener sed al comer coco.
The castaway had been hallucinating for a month because he was going crazy.	Hacía un mes que el náufrago alucinaba porque enloquecía.