Use "hace" for "ago" with the preterite tense (El Pretérito Indefinido)

How to say "ago" in Spanish

In Spanish, to say ago we use the invariable word "hace". It is generally used with El Pretérito Indefinido.

Have a look at the following examples:

Notice how after hace there is always a time frame expressing a length of time, e.g dos meses, un año, una década..., not a specific date. Combining hace with a specific date is incorrect:

Bear in mind that if the action happened very recently, i.e a few minutes ago, we tend to use El Pretérito Perfecto instead in Español peninsular.

For example:

See also:

• Using desde (hace) with the present instead of the perfect tense to express since/for
• When to use the perfect tense versus the simple past (Perfecto vs Indefinido)
• Use Hace + length of time + que + the preterite tense in Spanish to say how long ago something happened