Questions & Answers about Investigamos nuestros orígenes hace dos años.
How does hace mean 'ago' in this sentence?
Wait, doesn't investigamos mean 'we research' in the present tense?
Yes, it does! For regular -ar and -ir verbs, the nosotros (we) form is exactly the same in both the present tense and the simple past tense (preterite). You have to use context clues to know which one it is. Here, the time phrase hace dos años makes it clear that we are talking about the past.
Is investigar only used for police investigations?
No, investigar is the standard word for both 'to investigate' (like a detective) and 'to research' (like a scientist, a student, or someone looking into their family tree).
Why does orígenes have an accent mark?
The singular word is origen. It doesn't need a written accent because the spoken stress naturally falls on the second-to-last syllable (ri). When we make it plural by adding -es, we add an extra syllable. To keep the spoken stress on that exact same ri syllable, Spanish spelling rules require us to add a written accent mark: orígenes.