How to conjugate "hacer" in Spanish: every tense, plus weather and idioms.

Hacer means "to do" or "to make" — but in Spanish it does a lot more than that. It runs the weather, it expresses how long ago something happened, and it shows up in dozens of idioms. Here's every form and the most common uses.

Practice hacer in real Spanish conversations

Free plan included · No credit card required

Why hacer is everywhere

Hacer is the Swiss Army knife of Spanish verbs. As "to do/make", it appears in everyday actions like "hacer la cama" (make the bed) or "hacer ejercicio" (do exercise). But it also runs the weather ("hace frío", "hace sol"), expresses time ("hace dos años" — two years ago), and shows up in idioms like "hacer caso" (pay attention) or "hacer falta" (to be needed).

Hacer is irregular in just about every tense, but the irregularity is consistent — once you see the patterns, the forms come together.

Present tense (presente)

yo hago

"Hago ejercicio cada día." (I do exercise every day.) Note the "g" in yo form.

tú haces

"¿Qué haces?" (What are you doing? / What do you do?)

él/ella hace

"Hace mucho calor." (It's very hot.)

nosotros hacemos

"Hacemos un proyecto juntos." (We're doing a project together.)

vosotros hacéis

"¿Qué hacéis?" (What are you guys doing?)

ellos hacen

"Hacen pizza en este restaurante." (They make pizza at this restaurant.)

Preterite (pretérito) — irregular stem

yo hice

"Hice mi tarea." (I did my homework.)

tú hiciste

"¿Qué hiciste ayer?" (What did you do yesterday?)

él/ella hizo

"Ella hizo un pastel." (She made a cake.) Note the "z" instead of "c"!

nosotros hicimos

"Hicimos un viaje increíble." (We took an incredible trip.)

vosotros hicisteis

"Lo hicisteis bien." (You guys did it well.)

ellos hicieron

"Hicieron muchos cambios." (They made a lot of changes.)

Watch the third person singular: "hizo" with a "z", not "hico" with a "c". This is the pattern: when "c" would meet "o" or "a", Spanish uses "z" instead to preserve the soft sound.

Imperfect, future, and conditional

Imperfect: regular

hacía, hacías, hacía, hacíamos, hacíais, hacían. "De niño, hacía deporte cada día." (As a kid, I used to do sports every day.)

Future: stem "har-"

haré, harás, hará, haremos, haréis, harán. "Mañana haré la cena." (Tomorrow I'll make dinner.)

Conditional: stem "har-"

haría, harías, haría, haríamos, haríais, harían. "Yo lo haría diferente." (I'd do it differently.)

The future and conditional use the irregular stem "har-" — drop the "ce" from the infinitive.

Subjunctive (subjuntivo)

Present subjunctive: "haga"

haga, hagas, haga, hagamos, hagáis, hagan. "Es importante que hagas la tarea." (It's important that you do the homework.)

Imperfect subjunctive: "hiciera"

hiciera, hicieras, hiciera, hiciéramos, hicierais, hicieran. "Si hiciera más calor, iríamos a la playa." (If it were hotter, we'd go to the beach.)

Hacer for weather (the everyday use)

In English, "it's cold/hot/sunny" uses "to be". In Spanish, weather uses hacer. This is one of the most common uses of the verb.

Hace frío. — It's cold.

Hace calor. — It's hot.

Hace sol. — It's sunny.

Hace viento. — It's windy.

Hace fresco. — It's cool/chilly.

Hace buen / mal tiempo. — The weather is good / bad.

¿Qué tiempo hace? — What's the weather like?

Note: "está lloviendo" (it's raining), "está nevando" (it's snowing) use "estar", not hacer. Hacer is for the descriptive states; estar is for the active falling.

Hacer for time ("ago" and "for")

Hacer is also how Spanish expresses "ago" or "for X time". Two patterns to know:

"Hace + tiempo + que + presente"

For something that started in the past and continues. "Hace dos años que estudio español." (I've been studying Spanish for two years — and still am.)

"Hace + tiempo + que + pretérito"

For something that happened X time ago. "Hace dos años que me mudé a Madrid." (I moved to Madrid two years ago.)

Just "hace + tiempo"

"Lo vi hace una semana." (I saw him a week ago.) Casual, without "que" — also very common.

Idioms with hacer

Hacer caso — to pay attention to / heed. "No me hace caso." (He doesn't listen to me.)

Hacer falta — to be needed. "Me hace falta tiempo." (I need time.)

Hacer daño — to hurt / cause harm. "Eso hace daño." (That hurts.)

Hacer las paces — to make peace / patch up. "Hicieron las paces." (They made up.)

Hacer cola — to wait in line. "Hicimos cola por una hora." (We waited in line for an hour.)

Hacer la cama — to make the bed.

Hacer las maletas — to pack (the bags). "Hago las maletas mañana."

Hacer un viaje — to take a trip.

Hacer trampa — to cheat. "Hizo trampa en el examen." (He cheated on the exam.)

Hacerse — to become. "Se hizo médico." (He became a doctor.)

Hacer — the verb that runs Spanish behind the scenes.

Practice all the forms and idioms with TucoLingo. Master hacer and a huge slice of natural Spanish opens up.

Start practicing — free