Learn Spanish (Spain): Un científico famoso creó la bombilla hace mucho tiempo. - A famous scientist created the lightbulb a long time ago.

In Spanish, to say that something happened a certain amount of time 'ago', you use the word hace followed by the period of time. So, hace mucho tiempo literally translates to 'it makes a lot of time', but it is the standard way to say 'a long time ago'.

Can I put hace mucho tiempo at the beginning of the sentence instead?

Yes! Just like in English, you can move this time phrase. You could perfectly say Hace mucho tiempo, un científico famoso creó la bombilla. The meaning is exactly the same.

Why does the verb creó have an accent mark?

The accent mark shows that the stress falls on the final 'o'. This is the standard pattern for regular verbs ending in -ar when talking about 'he', 'she', or 'it' in the simple past tense (the preterite). Without the accent, creo means 'I believe' or 'I create' in the present tense!

Why does famoso come after científico?

In Spanish, descriptive adjectives like famoso (famous) usually come right after the noun they describe. So instead of 'famous scientist', the order is 'scientist famous' (científico famoso).