Breakdown of Hacía semanas que él no caminaba por la orilla.
él
he
no
no, not
caminar
to walk
la semana
week
que
that / than
por
for / by / through / in/during (part of the day)
hacer
(of time) for / ago
la orilla
shore
Questions & Answers about Hacía semanas que él no caminaba por la orilla.
Why use the imperfect 'hacía' and 'caminaba' when the English translation uses the past perfect 'had not been walking'?
In Spanish, to describe an ongoing state or action that was still happening at a specific point in the past, we use the imperfect tense for both verbs. It is the past-tense equivalent of the present-tense structure hace semanas que no camina (he hasn't walked for weeks). Where English uses the past perfect continuous, Spanish simply shifts both verbs into the imperfect.
How does the negative 'no' affect the meaning of this duration formula?
When this structure is negative, it measures the duration of an absence or a non-action. Hacía semanas que él no caminaba means that for a continuous period of weeks leading up to that past moment, the action of walking did not happen. It translates naturally to 'he had not been walking' or 'it had been weeks since he walked'.
Could I put 'hacía semanas' at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning?
Why use 'por' here instead of 'en' for 'along the shore'?
The preposition por is used to express movement through, along, or around a general space. If you used en la orilla, it would sound more like he was walking in place at one specific spot on the shore, rather than strolling along its length.
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