Question 1

How does hace muchos años translate to "many years ago"? Doesn't hace mean "it makes"?

Accepted Answer

You are right that hace comes from the verb hacer (to make/to do). However, in Spanish, when you use hace followed by a period of time, it translates to "ago." Think of it as saying "it makes many years" since the action happened. For example, "two days ago" would be hace dos días.

Question 2

Could I put hace muchos años at the beginning of the sentence instead?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely! You can say Hace muchos años heredé este apellido. Moving the time expression to the front of the sentence just puts a little more emphasis on when the action happened, but the meaning remains exactly the same.

Question 3

Why does heredé have an accent mark on the last letter?

Accepted Answer

The accent mark shows that this verb is in the preterite tense, which we use for completed actions in the past. Heredé is the "I" (yo) form of the regular verb heredar (to inherit). The accent tells you to put the stress on that final syllable. Without it, the pronunciation and meaning would change!

Question 4

Why do we use este apellido instead of esto apellido for "this last name"?

Accepted Answer

Apellido is a masculine noun. The masculine singular word for "this" is este. Learners often want to use esto because it ends in an "o", but esto is a neutral word. You only use esto when referring to an abstract idea or an unknown object without naming it, like saying "¿Qué es esto?" (What is this?). Because we are naming the specific noun (apellido), we must use este.

Heredé este apellido hace muchos años.

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