Hacer (to do) · All tenses

About a dozen Spanish verbs add a 'g' to the yo form: hacer → hago, tener → tengo, poner → pongo, salir → salgo, decir → digo. This pattern (called 'verbos con yo irregular en -go') comes from Latin sound changes that hardened a soft consonant before the final '-o' ending. The rest of the present tense conjugation stays regular.

Spanish uses 'hace' for most weather conditions involving a noun: 'hace frío' (it's cold), 'hace sol' (it's sunny), 'hace viento' (it's windy). Use 'está' for descriptive states of the sky ('está nublado' — it's cloudy). The 'hace' pattern is literally 'it makes cold/sun/wind' — Spanish treats weather as something being produced.

The preterite of hacer is: yo hice, tú hiciste, él/ella/usted hizo, nosotros/as hicimos, vosotros/as hicisteis, ellos/ellas/ustedes hicieron. Note that the él/ella/usted form is 'hizo' with a 'z' — the only person where the stem switches from 'hic-' to 'hiz-'.

Spanish orthography requires 'z' before 'o' or 'a', and 'c' before 'e' or 'i' for the same sibilant sound. The preterite stem of hacer is phonetically the same for every person; before 'iste' (hiciste) it's spelled with 'c', but before 'o' (hizo) it must switch to 'z'. The sound stays the same — only the spelling changes.

Use the preterite 'hice' for a completed action at a specific moment: 'Ayer hice ejercicio' (Yesterday I exercised). Use the imperfect 'hacía' for habitual or ongoing past actions without a clear endpoint: 'De niño, hacía ejercicio todos los días' (As a child, I used to exercise every day). The contrast is finished vs ongoing.

Hacer follows the regular -er pattern in the imperfect: yo hacía, tú hacías, él/ella/usted hacía, nosotros/as hacíamos, vosotros/as hacíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes hacían. Note the accent on the 'í' in every form — without it the pronunciation would shift.

Only three Spanish verbs have irregular imperfects: ser (era), ir (iba), and ver (veía). Hacer is highly irregular in the present, preterite, and future, but the -ía imperfect endings are so phonetically smooth they survived Latin → Spanish without change for nearly every verb. Most learners are relieved by this exception.

Use 'hacía' for past actions that were ongoing, repeated, or descriptive: 'Cuando vivía en Madrid, hacía yoga' (When I lived in Madrid, I did yoga — habitual). Use 'hice' for one-time completed actions: 'Ayer hice yoga' (Yesterday I did yoga). Background = imperfect; foreground event = preterite.

The present subjunctive of hacer is: yo haga, tú hagas, él/ella/usted haga, nosotros/as hagamos, vosotros/as hagáis, ellos/ellas/ustedes hagan. The stem 'hag-' is the same one used in the present indicative yo form ('hago') — every irregular subjunctive stem in Spanish is derived from the yo form of the present.

Use it after triggers of doubt, emotion, will, or impersonal expressions: 'Espero que hagas un buen trabajo' (I hope you do a good job), 'Dudo que haga sol mañana' (I doubt it will be sunny tomorrow), 'Es necesario que hagamos algo' (It's necessary we do something). Negative commands also use the subjunctive: '¡No hagas eso!' (Don't do that!).

Spanish irregular subjunctive stems always come from the yo form of the present indicative, not from the él form. Hacer → yo hago → subjunctive stem 'hag-'. The same rule produces tener (tengo → tenga), salir (salgo → salga), and decir (digo → diga). Knowing the yo form gives you the entire subjunctive.

The future of hacer uses the irregular stem 'har-': yo haré, tú harás, él/ella/usted hará, nosotros/as haremos, vosotros/as haréis, ellos/ellas/ustedes harán. The infinitive 'hacer' contracts to 'har-' before the future endings — same pattern as decir → diré.

About 12 high-frequency Spanish verbs developed contracted future stems for phonetic economy: hacer → har-, decir → dir-, tener → tendr-, poner → pondr-, salir → saldr-, venir → vendr-, querer → querr-, saber → sabr-, poder → podr-, haber → habr-, valer → valdr-, caber → cabr-. The pattern was driven by everyday speech — 'haceré' would have been awkward to repeat.

Both are correct. 'Haré' (simple future) feels slightly more formal, more committed, or further in time. 'Voy a hacer' (going-to future) is more conversational and tends to imply nearer-term plans. The simple future also expresses conjecture: '¿Qué hará Juan?' = 'What could Juan be doing?' — a use the going-to future cannot fill.