Breakdown of La empresa fabrica juguetes de madera desde hace veinte años.
de
from / of
el año
year
el juguete
toy
veinte
twenty
la empresa
company
hace
ago
desde
since / from (a starting point)
fabricar
to manufacture
la madera
the wood
Questions & Answers about La empresa fabrica juguetes de madera desde hace veinte años.
Why does the Spanish sentence use the present tense (fabrica) when the English translation says "has been manufacturing"?
In Spanish, when an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you usually use the present tense. English uses the more complex present perfect continuous ("has been manufacturing"), but Spanish keeps it simple! Because the company still makes the toys today, we just use the present tense fabrica.
What exactly does desde hace mean here? Could I just use por to mean "for"?
Desde hace is the standard way to say "for [amount of time]" when talking about an action that started in the past and is still ongoing. If you used por (por veinte años), it would usually imply the action is already finished (e.g., they made toys for 20 years, but now they make electronics). To show they are still doing it, you need desde hace.
Can I put desde hace veinte años at the beginning of the sentence?
Why is it juguetes de madera instead of just putting the material first like "madera juguetes"?
In Spanish, you can't use a noun to describe another noun directly like we do in English with "wooden toys" or "wood toys." Instead, you have to say "toys of wood" (juguetes de madera). You will use this de pattern for all materials, such as una botella de vidrio (a glass bottle) or un reloj de oro (a gold watch).
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