Question 1

Why do we use "Hacía semanas que" here instead of just saying "por semanas"?

Accepted Answer

To say that an action had been happening for a certain amount of time up to a point in the past, Spanish uses the formula: Hacía + [amount of time] + que + [verb in the imperfect]. While it translates literally to something like "It made weeks that...", it is the standard way to express "For weeks..." when describing an ongoing past situation.

Question 2

Why is the verb "sentía" in the imperfect tense here?

Accepted Answer

In the Hacía... que structure, the main verb is almost always in the imperfect tense (like sentía). This is because it describes an ongoing, continuous state in the past: the atmosphere started feeling heavy weeks ago and was still feeling heavy at the time of the story.

Question 3

Why does the sentence use "se sentía" instead of just "sentía"?

Accepted Answer

When you are talking about how a person or thing is experiencing a state or condition (how it "feels"), you use the pronominal verb sentirse (which gives us se sentía). If you used sentía without the se, it would imply the atmosphere was actively feeling or sensing a different object.

Question 4

Can "pesada" be used figuratively like "heavy" is in English?

Accepted Answer

Yes! Just like in English, pesado (or pesada to match the feminine noun atmósfera) can mean physically heavy, but it is also used figuratively to describe a tense, uncomfortable, or oppressive mood. You can even use it to describe an annoying or overbearing person.

Hacía semanas que la atmósfera se sentía pesada.

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