Breakdown of La científica pudo crear la vacuna hace cinco años.
el año
the year
poder
to be able to
cinco
five
hace
ago / for (a period up to now, with the present)
el científico
the scientist
crear
to create
la vacuna
the vaccine
Questions & Answers about La científica pudo crear la vacuna hace cinco años.
Why does the sentence use hace to mean "ago"?
In Spanish, the verb hacer (to do/make) is used to express how much time has passed since an event happened. The formula hace + [period of time] translates to "[period of time] ago" in English. So, hace cinco años literally translates to "it makes five years," but we naturally understand it as "five years ago."
Could I put hace cinco años at the beginning of the sentence instead?
Yes, absolutely! You can say Hace cinco años, la científica pudo crear la vacuna. Placing the time expression at the beginning or the end of the sentence is perfectly fine and doesn't change the meaning.
Why use the preterite pudo instead of the imperfect podía for "was able to"?
We use the preterite pudo because it refers to a completed action at a specific point in the past (five years ago). When used in the preterite, poder usually implies that someone "managed to" or "succeeded in" doing something. If we used the imperfect podía, it would just describe her general ability ("she had the ability to create it") without confirming that she actually did it.
Why is the word for scientist científica with an 'a' at the end?
Nouns for professions often change their ending to match the gender of the person. Because this sentence is about a female scientist, it uses the feminine form la científica. If the sentence were about a male scientist, it would be el científico.
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