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### Past Duration with "Hacía"

To express how long an ongoing situation *had been* happening up to a certain point in the past, use **hacía** followed by a time period. 

The formula is:
**Hacía** + [amount of time] + **que** + [verb in the imperfect tense]

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### Using the Imperfect Tense

Notice that English often uses "had been doing" or "had remained" for these expressions. In Spanish, however, you simply use the imperfect tense because the action was still an ongoing background state at that time in the past.

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### Negative Duration

To say how long it had been since something happened (meaning an action *had not* been happening), just put **no** immediately before the imperfect verb.

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Past duration (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
rubble	el escombro
The rubble had been filling the street for months.	Hacía meses que los escombros llenaban la calle.
to remain (in a place or state)	permanecer
intact	intacto
This room had remained intact for years.	Hacía años que este cuarto permanecía intacto.
cobweb	la telaraña
The cobwebs had been decorating the ceiling for a long time.	Hacía mucho tiempo que las telarañas decoraban el techo.
inhabitant	el habitante
The inhabitants had not walked around here for a century.	Hacía un siglo que los habitantes no caminaban por aquí.
rotten	podrido
We had been exploring the rotten balcony for hours.	Hacía horas que explorábamos el balcón podrido.
atmosphere	la atmósfera
The atmosphere had felt heavy for weeks.	Hacía semanas que la atmósfera se sentía pesada.
chilling	escalofriante
We had been hearing a chilling noise for a long time.	Hacía mucho tiempo que escuchábamos un ruido escalofriante.
uninhabited	deshabitado
The valley had been uninhabited for many years.	Hacía muchos años que el valle estaba deshabitado.
The store had remained closed for ten years.	Hacía diez años que la tienda permanecía cerrada.
crack	la grieta
The crack had been growing for months.	Hacía meses que la grieta crecía.
Yesterday we saw the rubble of the old church.	Ayer vimos los escombros de la iglesia vieja.
Have you never seen an intact mirror here?	¿Nunca has visto un espejo intacto aquí?
Last year I found a very big cobweb.	El año pasado encontré una telaraña muy grande.
The inhabitants used to meet in this square.	Los habitantes solían reunirse en esta plaza.
Where did you find the rotten wood?	¿Dónde encontraste la madera podrida?
The atmosphere of this place has scared me.	La atmósfera de este lugar me ha asustado.
I have never seen such a chilling hospital.	Nunca he visto un hospital tan escalofriante.
Last night I dreamed of an uninhabited planet.	Anoche soñé con un planeta deshabitado.
I have never been in such a dark place.	Nunca he estado en un lugar tan oscuro.
The crack used to be small.	La grieta solía ser pequeña.