Breakdown of Este año hemos hecho tres excursiones con el colegio.
con
with / just by (+ -ing)
el año
the year
hacer
to do, to make
tres
three
el colegio
the school (for children)
este
this (m.sg., also esta, estos, estas, esto)
haber
to have (auxiliary)
la excursión
the outing, the day trip
Questions & Answers about Este año hemos hecho tres excursiones con el colegio.
Why use hemos hecho instead of hicimos for an action in the past?
In Spain, when an action happens in a time frame that is not finished yet, like este año (this year), we use the present perfect tense (hemos hecho). If the time frame was completely over, like last year, you would use the simple past tense (hicimos).
The translation says we have gone on outings, so why does the Spanish use a form of hacer (to do/make)?
In English you go on an excursion or take a trip, but in Spanish the common phrase is hacer una excursión (literally to do or make an excursion). Hecho is the irregular past participle of hacer.
Why does the singular word excursión have an accent mark, but the plural excursiones in this sentence does not?
The singular word excursión needs an accent mark to show that the spoken stress falls on the last syllable. When you add -es to make it plural (excursiones), the spoken stress stays on the same letter o, but it is now the second-to-last syllable. Since words ending in s naturally stress the second-to-last syllable, the written accent mark is no longer needed.
Does colegio mean college?
No, colegio is a false friend! It typically refers to an elementary school or high school. If you want to talk about a college or university, you should use the word universidad.
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