Breakdown of Hace un mes que calculamos la órbita de este cometa.
de
from / of
un
a, an (masculine)
que
that / than
el mes
the month
Questions & Answers about Hace un mes que calculamos la órbita de este cometa.
Why does the English translation say "have been calculating" when calculamos usually means "we calculate"?
In Spanish, to talk about an action that started in the past and is still happening, you use the present tense. The formula hace + [amount of time] + que + [present tense verb] translates to "have been doing something for [amount of time]". So here, it literally means "It makes a month that we calculate", which we express naturally in English as "We have been calculating... for a month."
Wait, doesn't calculamos also mean "we calculated" in the past tense? How do I know which one it is here?
You are exactly right! For regular -ar verbs, the present and past (preterite) nosotros forms are identical. Because of the hace... que structure, this sentence could technically also mean "It has been a month since we calculated the orbit" if you interpret the verb as the past tense. You have to rely on the surrounding context to know if they are still calculating it today or if they finished a month ago!
Why does it say este cometa? Shouldn't a word ending in -a use the feminine esta?
Cometa is one of those tricky exceptions. When it means a comet in space, it is masculine: el cometa. Because it is masculine, we use este (this) instead of the feminine esta. As a fun fact, if you use it as a feminine word (la cometa), it means a toy kite!
Could I put the verb at the beginning of the sentence instead of splitting it up with que?