hacer

Spanish

Alternative forms

• facer, far (archaic)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish fazer, from Latin facere (“to do, to make”), from Proto-Italic *fakjō, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”). 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) /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, of the weather) to be

   Synonym: estar

   hace frío ― it's cold

   hace calor ― it's hot

   hace sol ― it's sunny

   hace viento ― it's windy

5. (transitive) to go (to release or excrete (urine, excrement))

   hacer pis, pipí, el número uno ― to pee

   hacer caca, pupú, el número dos ― to poo

6. (transitive, intransitive, optionally with de) to play (a part in a play)

   hacer la princesa ― to play the princess

   hacer de princesa ― to play a princess

   hacer de Óscar ― to 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 tonto ― to pretend being a fool, play the fool

   hacerse la víctima ― to 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) 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 uñas ― to 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.

Related terms

Further reading

• “hacer”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014
• “hacer” in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, segunda edición, Real Academia Española, 2023. →ISBN