Log inSign up

Esa generación emigró a otro país hace diez años.

Esa generación emigró a otro país hace diez años.
That generation emigrated to another country ten years ago.
From Lesson 108:Time ago (hace)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Esa generación emigró a otro país hace diez años.

How does hace diez años mean "ten years ago"?
The verb hacer literally means "to do" or "to make", but when you use hace followed by an amount of time for a completed past action, it translates to "ago". So hace diez años means "ten years ago". Notice that hace stays in this singular form, even though diez años is plural.
Why is it just otro país instead of un otro país for "another country"?
In English, we combine words to say "an-other" (an + other), but in Spanish, the word otro already means "another". You never put un or una in front of it. Saying un otro is a common trap for English speakers, so just remember it is always simply otro país.
Why does this sentence use the singular verb emigró if a generation is made up of many people?
Even though a generación (generation) includes many people, the word itself is a singular noun representing one group. Because of this, it uses the singular "it" form of the past tense verb: emigró (it emigrated).
Why do we use esa instead of ese for "that"?
Esa means "that" and must match the gender of the noun it describes. In Spanish, almost all nouns ending in -ción, like generación, are feminine. Therefore, we use the feminine singular word esa instead of the masculine ese.

Learn Esa generación emigró a otro país hace diez años and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →