Word
Aquel arco está demolido desde hace un mes.
Meaning
That arch has been demolished for a month.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Aquel arco está demolido desde hace un mes.
un
a, an (masculine)
estar
to be (location/state)
el mes
the month
aquel
that (far away)
Questions & Answers about Aquel arco está demolido desde hace un mes.
Why do we use está demolido here instead of fue demolido?
We use estar + past participle to describe a resulting state. The arch is currently in a state of ruin. If we wanted to talk about the action or event of the demolition taking place, we would use the passive voice with ser, such as El arco fue demolido (The arch was demolished).
Why is the present tense word está translated as 'has been' in English?
In Spanish, when a state or action started in the past and continues into the present, you use the present tense. English uses the present perfect ('has been'). Because the arch is still demolished right now, Spanish uses the present tense está combined with the time phrase desde hace.
What is the difference between desde hace un mes and just por un mes?
Desde hace un mes is used for ongoing situations that started in the past and continue today (literally 'since it makes a month'). Por un mes usually describes the total duration of a completed event, like 'I lived there for a month' (Viví ahí por un mes). Since the arch is still demolished, desde hace is required.
Why use aquel instead of ese to say 'that'?