hacer

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See also: ḥacer

Spanish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Spanish fazer, from Latin facere. The first-person indicative and present subjunctive may have been influenced by Latin agō, but more likely present voicing of the Latin -c- between vowels, after dropping the -i- from a hypothetical *faco.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (Spain) /aˈθeɾ/
  • IPA(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /aˈseɾ/
  • Rhymes: -eɾ
  • Syllabification: ha‧cer

Verb

hacer (first-person singular present hago, first-person singular preterite hice, past participle hecho)

  1. (transitive) to do
    ¿Qué haces?
    What are you doing?
    No sé que hago.
    I don't know what I'm doing.
    Prefiero no hacerlo
    I prefer not to do it.
  2. (transitive) to make (something)
    Empecemos a hacer el pastel.
    Let's start making the cake.
    Le gustaba hacer poemas placenteros.
    She liked to make pleasant poems.
  3. (transitive) to make (e.g. someone do something or feel a certain way.)
    No sabe cómo hacerla feliz.
    He doesn't know how to make her happy.
    Lo hiciste llorar / Hiciste que llorara.
    You made him cry.
  4. (transitive, idiomatic, of the weather) to be
    Synonym: estar
    hace fríoit's cold
    hace calorit's hot
    hace solit's sunny
    hace vientoit's windy
  5. (transitive) to go (to release or excrete (urine, excrement))
    hacer pis, pipí, el número unoto pee
    hacer caca, pupú, el número dosto poo
  6. (transitive, intransitive, optionally with de) to play (a part in a play)
    hacer la princesato play the princess
    hacer de princesato play a princess
    hacer de Óscarto play (the character of) Oscar
  7. (reflexive, transitive, intransitive) to become; to get
    Synonym: volverse
    ¡Hazte vegetariano!
    Become vegetarian!
    Me haré rico.
    I will get rich.
    Ese niño se hizo todo un hombre.
    That boy became a real man.
  8. (reflexive, transitive, intransitive) to pretend being, play
    hacerse el tontoto pretend being a fool, play the fool
    hacerse la víctimato play the victim
    Háganse los sofisticados si quieren, igual nadie les cree.
    You can pretend to be sophisticated if you want, no one believes you anyway.
  9. (reflexive, intransitive, idiomatic) to play the fool
    No te hagás: vos sabés lo que hiciste.
    Don't play the fool, you know what you did.
  10. (reflexive, transitive) to prep, adorn, do (a body part)
    hacerse las uñasto do one's nails
  11. (reflexive, intransitive with a) to get used to (chiefly in idioms)
    El cuerpo se hace a las fatigas.
    The body gets used to tiredness.
    El caballo se hace al fuego.
    A horse gets used to fire (for the Luminarias).
  12. (intransitive) to arrive (said of a certain time), be now
    Se hace tarde.
    It's getting late.
    Se hicieron las doce.
    It was now/suddenly 12 o'clock.

Usage notes

  • The use of hacerse in the sense of becoming often implies change made voluntarily, i.e. involving commitment or effort. Compare volverse, quedarse, convertirse and ponerse.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Noun

hacer m (plural haceres)

  1. task, action
    Synonyms: quehacer, acción
    Nos quedan muchos haceres.
    We have a lot of tasks left.

References

Further reading