Mastering the verb hacer is two verbs for the effort of learning one, because it means both “to do” and “to make” in Spanish. This high-frequency verb is your go-to for discussing creativity, favorite hobbies, chores, and responsibilities.
You’ll use this verb often, so learn how to use hacer in various Spanish tenses and how to conjugate it. With the help of tables and example sentences, you’ll know how to say “do,” “did,” “make,” “made,” and other expressions in Spanish.
Table of Contents
What does hacer mean?
The simplest answer is that hacer means “to do” and “to make,” but there’s much more to this verb than saying “to do” in Spanish.
Many Spanish phrases for activities, sports, and weather also use hacer, even when English would not, so it’s not always simple to translate directly. As you progress through this guide, you’ll see how hacer is used in Spanish in different ways.
| Spanish | English |
| hacer la tarea | to do homework |
| hacer la cama | to make the bed |
| hacer ejercicio | to exercise |
| hacer esquí de fondo | to cross country ski |
| hacer kayak | to kayak |
| hacer sol | to be sunny |
| hacer viento | to be windy |
How to use the infinitive of hacer
The infinitive form, hacer, is often found in its unchanged (unconjugated) form after conjugated verbs like puedo (I can) or expressions like me gusta (I like).
- ¿Qué te gusta hacer? = What do you like to do?
- ¿Puedo hacer una reserva? = Am I able to make a reservation?
- Quiero mirar televisión, pero debo hacer ejercicio. = I want to watch tv, but I must exercise.
- Hoy va a hacer sol. = Today it’s going to be sunny.
Overview of hacer conjugation in the Spanish tenses
In many Spanish sentences, the verb hacer will be conjugated. Depending on the tense, it may follow regular patterns for -ER verbs, but in others, it’s one of the more common irregular verbs in Spanish. Here is hacer conjugated in four main tenses at a glance.
| Subject Pronouns | Present (do/make) |
Preterite (did/made) |
Imperfect (used to do/make, was doing/making) |
Future (will do/will make) |
| Yo I |
hago | hice | hacía | haré |
| Tú you (singular informal) |
haces | hiciste | hacías | harás |
| Usted you (singular formal) |
hace | hizo | hacía | hará |
| Él/Ella he/she |
hace | hizo | hacía | hará |
| Nosotros/Nosotras we |
hacemos | hicimos | hacíamos | haremos |
| Vosotros/Vosotras you (plural informal – Spain) |
hacéis | hicisteis | hacíais | haréis |
| Ellos/Ellas they |
hacen | hicieron | hacían | harán |
How to use the present tense conjugation of hacer
The present tense of hacer is useful for many situations. It’s the most important conjugation to be familiar with.
Use it to talk about making and creating.
- Necesitamos aumentar la cantidad de pan que hacemos porque nuestros compradores quieren más. = We need to increase the amount of bread that we make because our buyers want more.
This verb helps form many expressions for activities, even if you wouldn’t translate hacer in English to “do.”
- Los hombres hacen esquí de fondo. = The men cross-country ski.
Hacer is part of several expressions to discuss the weather. If discussing current or typical weather, use the present tense.
- ¿Qué tiempo hace? = What’s the weather like?
- Hace calor. Hace sol. = It’s hot. It’s sunny.
It’s part of expressions like hacer preguntas (to ask questions).
- Yo soy oficial de aduanas. Les hago preguntas a las personas que entran a Colombia. = I’m a customs official. I ask questions to people who enter Colombia.
The present tense form hace plus a period of time is the equivalent of “ago,” so it can assist as a past tense time marker.
- Me caí de la bicicleta hace dos horas. = I fell off the bike two hours ago.
hacer – to do/to make
| Spanish Present Tense | English |
| yo hago | I do/make |
| tú haces | you do/make (singular/informal) |
| usted hace | you do/make (singular/formal) |
| él/ella hace | he/she does/makes |
| nosotros/nosotras hacemos | we do/make |
| vosotros/vosotras hacéis | you do/make (informal plural – Spain only) |
| ustedes hacen | you do/make(plural) |
| ellos/ellas hacen | they do/make |
Hacer in the present progressive tense
The present progressive tense describes what is happening in the current moment. The translation is often “is doing” or “is making” in English.
This tense is formed by conjugating estar (to be) and following it with haciendo.
- ¿Qué estás haciendo? = What are you doing (right now?)
- Estoy haciendo un crucigrama. = I’m doing a crossword puzzle.
hacer – to do/to make
| Spanish Present Progressive Tense | English |
| yo estoy haciendo | I am doing/making |
| tú estás haciendo | you are doing/making (singular/informal) |
| usted está haciendo | you are doing/making (singular/formal) |
| él/ella está haciendo | he/she is doing/making |
| nosotros/nosotras estamos haciendo | we are doing/making |
| vosotros/vosotras estáis haciendo | you are doing/making (informal plural – Spain only) |
| ustedes están haciendo | you are doing/making (plural) |
| ellos/ellas están haciendo | they are doing/making |
Hacer in the Spanish past tenses
Talk about your accomplishments, give a report on what you’ve achieved, or set the scene with detail when you describe situations using the hacer past tense forms. You can narrate what has already happened using the two main past tenses in Spanish.
When to use hacer in the preterite tense
Use the Spanish preterite tense to talk about events that you can check off your to-do list, because this is for completed specific events in the past. The completely irregular conjugation won’t be difficult to recognize because it’s so common.
Translations will vary because of how versatile the verb hacer can be.
- ¿Qué hiciste hoy? = What did you do today?
- Te hice una torta para tu cumpleaños.= I made you a cake for your birthday.
- Él le contó a su abuelo una historia que lo hizo reír. = He told his grandfather a story that made him laugh.
- Hoy presentarán los experimentos que hicieron. = Today you will present the experiments that you did.
hacer – to do/to make
| Spanish Preterite Tense | English |
| yo hice | I did/made |
| tú hiciste | you did/made (singular/informal) |
| usted hizo | you did/made(singular/formal) |
| él/ella hizo | he/she did/made |
| nosotros/nosotras hicimos | we did/made |
| vosotros/vosotras hicisteis | you did/made(informal plural – Spain only) |
| ustedes hicieron | you did/made (plural) |
| ellos/ellas hicieron | they did/made |
Hacer conjugation in the imperfect
Use the Spanish imperfect hacer conjugation for background descriptions in the past, actions that you did routinely in the past, and actions that were in progress when something else occurred. It’s the perfect tense for exploring historical contexts and what life used to be like.
- ¿Qué hacían los granjeros si había sequía? = What did the farmers used to do if there was drought?
- Cuando estábamos en la playa, hacía sol. = When we were at the beach, it was sunny.
- No vi tu mensaje porque hacía mucha tarea. = I didn’t see your message because I was doing a lot of homework.
- ¿Qué hacías cuando vivías en España? = What did you used to do when you lived in Spain?
hacer – to do/to make
| Spanish Imperfect Tense | English |
| yo hacía | I used to do/make, I was doing/making |
| tú hacías | you used to do/make, you were doing/making (singular/informal) |
| usted hacía | you used to do/make, you were doing/making (singular/formal) |
| él/ella hacía | he/she used to do/make, he/she was doing/making |
| nosotros/nosotras hacíamos | we used to do/make, we were doing/making |
| vosotros/vosotras hacíais | you used to do/make, you were doing/making (informal plural – Spain only) |
| ustedes hacían | you used to do/make, you were doing/making (plural) |
| ellos/ellas hacían | they used to do/make, they were doing/making |
Talk about what you’ll do or make in the future with hacer
In addition to learning Spanish, you likely have a lengthy list of goals and dreams, as well as chores that must be completed. You can discuss what will happen with two options for the future tense.
- The near future tense of hacer is formed with ir (to go) + a + hacer (infinitive).
- Voy a hacer una torta de manzana. ¿Quieres ayudarme? = I’m going to make an apple pie. Do you want to help me?
- Hoy va a hacer frío. = Today it’s going to be cold.
- ¿Qué vamos a hacer mañana? = What are we going to do tomorrow?
This is also a way to suggest a fun plan with friends.
- ¡Vamos a hacer esquí de fondo! = Let’s go cross-country skiing!
- If you use hacer in the futuro, a simple one word future tense, it can be translated as “will do/will make.” It uses an irregular stem har-.
- Haré dos tipos de galletas para la fiesta. = I will make two kinds of cookies for the party.
- Los estudiantes harán mucho ruido en la asamblea. = The students will make a lot of noise in the assembly.
- En invierno haremos rompecabezas para llenar el tiempo. = In the winter, we will do puzzles to pass the time.
hacer – to do/to make
| Spanish Future Tense | English |
| yo haré | I will do/make |
| tú harás | you will do/make (singular/informal) |
| usted hará | you will do/make (singular/formal) |
| él/ella hará | he/she will do/make |
| nosotros/nosotras haremos | we will do/make |
| vosotros/vosotras haréis | you will do/make (informal plural – Spain only) |
| ustedes harán | you will do/make (plural) |
| ellos/ellas harán | they will do/make |
Use the conditional of hacer to say ‘would’ in Spanish
If you’re like many people, you believe that if certain conditions were true, you would do things differently. If you had more time, you would exercise more, and if it were summer, you would go kayaking.
This conditional mood, translated as “would” in English, is formed with the same stem as the future, har-, and the endings from the imperfect tense.
- Si yo tuviera más tiempo, haría ejercicio en la mañana. = If I had more time, I would exercise in the morning.
- ¿Qué harías si tuvieras un millón de dólares? = What would you do if you had a million dollars?
hacer – to do/to make
| Spanish Conditional | English |
| yo haría | I would do/make |
| tú harías | you would do/make(singular/informal) |
| usted haría | you would do/make (singular/formal) |
| él/ella haría | he/she would do/make |
| nosotros/nosotras haríamos | we would do/make |
| vosotros/vosotras haríais | you would do/make (informal plural – Spain only) |
| ustedes harían | you would do/make (plural) |
| ellos/ellas harían | they would do/make |
Forming compound tenses with hacer
Compound tenses use both an auxiliary or helping verb and the past participle hecho (done). These hacer conjugations boost your sophistication as you express yourself in additional Spanish verb tenses. Recount what you have done, would have done, and what you will have done.
| Subject Pronouns | Present Perfect (have/has done/made) |
Pluperfect (had done/made) |
Future Perfect (will have done/made) |
Conditional Perfect (would have done/made) |
| Yo I |
he hecho | había hecho | habré hecho | habría hecho |
| Tú you (singular informal) |
has hecho | habías hecho | habrás hecho | habrías hecho |
| Usted you (singular formal) |
ha hecho | había hecho | habrá hecho | habría hecho |
| Él/Ella he/she |
ha hecho | había hecho | habrá hecho | habría hecho |
| Nosotros/Nosotraswe | hemos hecho | habíamos hecho | habremos hecho | habríamos hecho |
| Vosotros/Vosotras you (plural informal – Spain) |
habéis hecho | habíais hecho | habréis hecho | habríais hecho |
| Ellos/Ellas they |
han hecho | habían hecho | habrán hecho | habrían hecho |
What is the command form of hacer?
If you want to be very direct, you can use the imperative, or command form, to tell someone what to do.
Parents or teachers often use the tú form to give directions to children.
- ¡Haz la cama! = Make the bed.
- ¡Haz la tarea! = Do the homework.
- ¡No hagas ruido! = Don’t make noise.
You may encounter clear directions in the usted form in public or in instruction manuals.
- Haga clic en la palabra. = Click the word.
- No haga eso. = Don’t do that.
Conjugating hacer in the subjunctive
The subjunctive mood in Spanish is used for discussing wishes, doubts, judgements, refusals, and certain emotions.
- Es importante que hagas ejercicio a menudo. = It’s important that you exercise often.
- Ojalá que no haga tanto frío mañana. = Hopefully it’s not as cold tomorrow.
hacer – to do/to make
| Spanish Subjunctive | English |
| yo haga | I do/make |
| tú hagas | you do/make(singular/informal) |
| usted haga | you do/make (singular/formal) |
| él/ella haga | he/she do/make |
| nosotros/nosotras hagamos | we do/make |
| vosotros/vosotras hagáis | you do/make (informal plural – Spain only) |
| ustedes hagan | you do/make (plural) |
| ellos/ellas hagan | they do/make |
Key takeaways for hacer conjugation
As you learn Spanish you’ll encounter the verb hacer in a wide variety of contexts and examples. Noticing the patterns will help you to communicate with confidence.
- Hacer follows regular patterns in the present tense except for the yo form hago (I do/make)
- There is often no direct translation of hacer when it’s a part of Spanish expressions, as in hacer esquí de fondo (to cross country ski).
- The hacer preterite form is completely irregular, but follows the patterns of other -ER verbs in the imperfect.
- Both the future and the conditional tense use the stem har-.
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