Breakdown of Investigaste tu apellido hace un mes.
un
a, an (masculine)
tu
your
el mes
the month
hace
ago
investigar
to investigate / to research
el apellido
the last name
Questions & Answers about Investigaste tu apellido hace un mes.
Why does "hace" mean "ago" here?
In Spanish, the formula hace + [amount of time] is used to say how long ago a completed action happened. Even though hace comes from the verb hacer (to do/make) and literally translates to "it makes," in this time expression, hace un mes simply means "a month ago."
Could I put "hace un mes" at the beginning of the sentence instead?
Yes, you can! You could say Hace un mes, investigaste tu apellido. Moving the time expression to the front is very common in Spanish and doesn't change the meaning of the sentence at all.
How do we know to use the preterite tense "investigaste" instead of the imperfect?
Is "apellido" related to the English word "apology"?
No, this is a classic "false friend"! Apellido only means "last name" or "surname." If you want to say "apology" in Spanish, you would use a word like disculpa.
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