3

How would I say "It has been years since I've spoken Spanish on a daily basis."?

  1. Hacen años que hablo el Español diariamente.
  2. Hacen años que no hablo el Español diariamente.
  3. Hacen años que he hablado...
  4. Hace años que no he hablado...

Something else?

Improve this question

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

The correct way would be: Hace años que no hablo español diariamente.

When it refers to time, you don’t inflect hacer by number — this means that you would never say hacen🚫, even if the phrase is referring to a period of time in plural units. You can conjugate it in past as well, such as in this example:

¡Hacía años que no hablaba español diariamente!

Improve this answer
2
  • Great, thanks for the tip on the pluralization. I was thinking that hablar should be negated but I wasn't sure. So, without the negation, I assume it means I HAVE been speaking Spanish daily for years.
    – Thomas Doman
    Commented Sep 3, 2016 at 14:21
  • 1
    Over six years later, I was discussing this scenario with another Spanish-as-a-second language speaker and here's the breakdown of how I now translate this in my head in order to keep it straight: "Hace años" = "It has been years" "que no" = "since" That is, "since" is a kind of negation in English. Depending on the context, in English, you might say "It has been years since I HAVEN'T spoken Spanish daily." to convey you've been regularly speaking it for years. A kind of "double negative" that Spanish doesn't require and was the source of my confusion.
    – Thomas Doman
    Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 16:30

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.