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The Spanish verb Hacer means both “to do” and “to make”. Let’s practice its present-tense forms, hago, hace, haces, hacen, and hacemos, as well as the unconjugated forms. We’ll also practice Hacerse, which roughly means “to become”.
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Starting this week, we’re following a new weekly format on the podcast. Every week we’re going to spend Monday and Tuesday learning a new verb. Then we have the rest of the week to learn other language elements, including a few new nouns to add to our vocabulary every Thursday.
For today and tomorrow, we’re going to focus on the verb Hacer, which means “to make” or “to do”. We’ve already learned the infinitive, hacer, the participle, hecho, and the gerund, haciendo. Today we’re going to learn the present-tense forms and explore some of the interesting ways this verb can be used.
We’re actually not going to use a memory palace to work on this verb because its conjugations pretty easily follow some of the patterns we’ve previously learned for other verbs. The present tense follows a pattern similar to that of Tener. For example, the first person, the word for “I do”, has an extra inexplicable G in it. So just like “I have” is tengo, “I do” is hago.
For example:
I do it every day.
Lo hago todos los días.
The rest of the forms are more regular. To begin with, the third person singular, the word for “he/she/it does”, is hace. It’s like the infinitive, hacer, but with the R removed from the end, and with the stress on the first syllable instead of the second syllable. Hace.
Let’s practice these two forms a bit.
He does it badly.
Lo hace mal.
I do that in the evenings.
Yo hago eso por las noches.
How do you(formal) do that?
¿Cómo hace eso usted?
I don’t ever do that.
No hago eso nunca.
The rest of the present-tense forms are based on hace. So:
“you do” is haces,
“they do” is hacen,
and “we do” is hacemos.
Let’s practice all five present-tense forms with a few more examples, and then we’ll talk about some different meanings that we can give this verb.
We do our homework(f).
Hacemos nuestra homework.
Hacemos nuestra tarea.
They do something.
Hacen algo.
She does those things.
Hace esas cosas.
You do your chores.
Haces tus chores.
Haces tus quehaceres.
I make dinner(f), they don’t make it.
Yo hago dinner, ellos no la hacen.
Yo hago la cena, ellos no la hacen.
We make gloves for winter.
Hacemos gloves para winter.
Hacemos guantes para el invierno.
You don’t do it.
No lo haces.
All right, now for some interesting idiomatic things this verb does. Remember that we’re able to change the meaning of Ir by making it reflexive, and then instead of “to go”, it means “to leave”. Technically we say that we’re no longer using the verb Ir; we’re instead using the verb Irse.
Well, we can do this with Hacer as well. The verb Hacer means “to do” or “to make”, but the verb Hacerse has its own meaning, typically something like “to become”.
So check out this sentence:
Se hace mi amiga.
This is literally “she makes herself my friend”, but it’s commonly translated into English as simply “she becomes my friend”. Here’s another example:
She’s going to become a Mrs.
Se va a hacer una señora.
Let’s practice this with a few examples.
They are becoming lawyers.
Se hacen lawyers.
Se hacen abogados.
I’m becoming a doctor.
Me hago doctor.
Me hago doctor.
You are becoming my friend.
Te haces mi amigo.
We are becoming family.
Nos hacemos family.
Nos hacemos familia.
He is becoming an architect.
Se hace architect.
Se hace arquitecto.
There’s also a second thing that happens when Hacer is used reflexively. You can specifically use this in the third person when you’re saying that something “is being done”, or “is done”, without reference to who is doing it.
Here’s an example.
That is not done around here.
Eso no se hace por aquí.
This is literally “that does not do itself around here”, but the meaning is that nobody does it. Here’s another example:
Those things are done all the time.
Esas cosas se hacen todo el tiempo.
To make it even more complicated, we can throw Tener in here to indicate that there’s an obligation that something is to be done. Check this out:
That has to be done.
Eso se tiene que hacer.
Let’s get some good practice with this.
Those things aren’t done.
Esas cosas no se hacen.
The work has to be done.
The work se tiene que hacer.
El trabajo se tiene que hacer.
The work has been done.
The work se ha hecho.
El trabajo se ha hecho.
The exercises have been done.
The exercises se han hecho.
Los ejercicios se han hecho.
These things have to be done.
Estas cosas se tienen que hacer.
This is done many times.
Esto se hace muchas veces.
Remember that if you need more practice, you can drill down on anything specific using free online flashcards here. But if you feel ready, let’s go on to today’s final quiz.
If I were different, I would call my friend.
Si fuera different, I would call a mi amigo.
Si fuera diferente, llamaría a mi amigo.
I hoped she didn’t have any trouble.
I hoped que no tuviera any trouble.
Esperaba que no tuviera ningún problema.
Who knows what I’m doing?
¿Quién knows lo que hago?
¿Quién sabe lo que hago?
My mom hoped I had more money.
Mi mom hoped que yo tuviera más money.
Mi mamá esperaba que yo tuviera más dinero.
They would know if she went.
Ellos would know si ella fuera.
Ellos sabrían si ella fuera.
We all were good that time, even your friend(m).
Todos fuimos buenos esa vez, hasta tu amigo.
We do what hasn’t been done.
Hacemos lo que no se ha hecho.
This doesn’t have to be done at all.
Esto no se tiene que hacer para nada.
There are extra cars that can go until the next city.
Hay cars de más que can ir hasta the next city.
Hay autos de más que pueden ir hasta la próxima ciudad.
We are also becoming a family.
También nos hacemos a family.
También nos hacemos familia.
It couldn’t hurt to remind you that you were the problem that day.
No está de más to remind you que tú fuiste the problem ese día.
No está de más recordarte que tú fuiste el problema ese día.
If I were an artist instead of a scientist, I could create more.
Si fuera an artist en vez de a scientist, I could create más.
Si fuera un artista en vez de un científico, podría crear más.
They hoped I didn’t go either to the hospital or to the clinic.
They hoped que no fuera ni to the hospital ni to the clinic.
Esperaban que no fuera ni al hospital ni a la clínica.
If I were around, I would eat no matter what.
Si estuviera por ahí, I would eat sí o sí.
Si estuviera por ahí, comería sí o sí.
I do it, but they don’t do it.
Yo lo hago, pero ellos no lo hacen.
All the things have to be done now.
Todas las cosas se tienen que hacer ahora.
They’re becoming good students.
Se hacen buenos students.
Se hacen buenos estudiantes.
I was a good citizen(m) because I voted.
Fui un buen citizen porque I voted.
Fui un buen ciudadano porque voté.
You don’t do it, so she does it.
No lo haces, así que ella lo hace.
(preterite) I had it all and it was a mistake.
Lo tuve todo y fue un mistake.
Lo tuve todo y fue un error.
We aren’t doing everything that you do.
No hacemos todo lo que haces.
I’m becoming your friend.
Me hago tu amigo.
You’re becoming a great professional.
Te haces un great professional.
Te haces un gran profesional.
If she were around, it would have a bit of everything.
Si ella estuviera por ahí, tendría de todo.
They were rude with me that day and that isn’t done!
¡Fueron rude conmigo ese día y eso no se hace!
¡Fueron groseros conmigo ese día y eso no se hace!
She is making a new program(m).
Hace un nuevo program.
Hace un nuevo programa.
They are doing their job.
Hacen su job.
Hacen su trabajo.
Several projects have been done.
Several projects se han hecho.
Algunos proyectos se han hecho.
To get more practice with these sentences, join the free course here and quiz yourself with them until you’re acing this.
Tomorrow we’re going to learn the rest of our conjugations of Hacer, plus we’ll learn more about verb contractions, which will let us use all of our verbs in some fun new ways.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. Our music was provided by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today using our free course — join here.
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