Learn Spanish (Spain): La chica no ve la constelación por la niebla que hay hacia el norte. - The girl does not see the constellation because of the fog that is towards the north.

La chica no ve la constelación por la niebla que hay hacia el norte.

The girl does not see the constellation because of the fog that is towards the north.

Breakdown of La chica no ve la constelación por la niebla que hay hacia el norte.

to see; to watch (TV, a film)

que

that (relative pronoun, conjunction)

Questions & Answers about La chica no ve la constelación por la niebla que hay hacia el norte.

Why do we use hacia here instead of a or en?

Hacia expresses a general direction (towards) rather than an exact destination (a) or a fixed, specific location (en). The fog isn't exactly at a single point in the north, but rather spread out looking towards that general direction.

Does hacia have anything to do with the verb hacer (to do/make)?

No, but they are very easy to confuse! Hacia (without an accent) is the preposition meaning 'towards'. Hacía (with an accent on the i) is the imperfect past tense of hacer. That small accent mark changes both the meaning and the pronunciation.

Why does the sentence use por instead of para when talking about the fog?

We use por to express the cause or reason for an action. The fog is the reason the girl cannot see the constellation. If we used para, it would incorrectly sound like she was failing to see it in order to achieve a goal.

Why does it say que hay hacia el norte instead of que está hacia el norte?

Que hay translates literally to 'that there is'. While you could grammatically say que está (that is located), Spanish frequently uses hay (from haber) to talk about the existence or general presence of weather conditions like fog (niebla).