Introduction
One of the most challenging aspects of learning Spanish grammar involves expressing duration and time periods. Three prepositions in particular—desde, hace, and durante—cause confusion among English-speaking learners because they each convey different meanings and require distinct grammatical structures. While all three can relate to time and duration, they function differently in sentences and convey different temporal concepts. Understanding the subtle differences between these three words is essential for achieving fluency and expressing yourself accurately in Spanish. This comprehensive guide will help you master these commonly confused terms and avoid the mistakes that plague many learners.
Understanding Desde: The Starting Point
The preposition desde means from or since in English and indicates the starting point of an action or condition that continues to the present moment or a specified moment in time. When using desde, you are marking where something began, not necessarily how long it has been going on. This is a critical distinction that many learners miss.
When desde expresses an action that started in the past and continues into the present, you must use the present tense in Spanish, not the present perfect tense as English speakers might expect. For example:
Vivo en Madrid desde 2015.
(I have been living in Madrid since 2015.)
Trabajo aquí desde el lunes.
(I have been working here since Monday.)
Notice that the Spanish uses the simple present tense, while English requires the present perfect. This represents one of the most common mistakes English speakers make. The temptation to use the present perfect progressive exists because English naturally expresses this concept that way, but Spanish grammar demands the simple present tense when describing ongoing situations that began at a specific point in time.
You can also use desde with the present perfect to indicate a completed action, but this usage is less common and carries a slightly different meaning:
Ha estado enfermo desde ayer.
(He has been sick since yesterday.)
Another important use of desde involves expressing duration between two specific points in the past. In these cases, you use the preterite tense:
Estuve en Barcelona desde el lunes hasta el viernes.
(I was in Barcelona from Monday until Friday.)
Mastering Hace: The Duration Approach
The word hace literally means ago or for and is used to express how long something has been happening. Unlike desde, which marks the starting point, hace emphasizes the duration—the length of time that has passed. This distinction is fundamental to using these prepositions correctly.
When expressing how long an action has been occurring, Spanish uses a formula with hace that differs significantly from English:
Hace tres años que vivo aquí.
(I have been living here for three years.)
Hace dos semanas que trabajo en este proyecto.
(I have been working on this project for two weeks.)
In these constructions, you place hace plus the time period first, followed by the word que, and then the present tense verb. This creates a structure that emphasizes duration rather than the starting point. Some learners mistakenly try to translate this directly from English, resulting in incorrect sentences.
You can also invert this structure, placing the present tense verb first:
Vivo aquí hace tres años.
(I have been living here for three years.)
While this second structure is grammatically acceptable, the first structure with que is more commonly used in modern Spanish, particularly in Spain and among educated speakers.
Another crucial use of hace involves expressing time in the past. When you want to say something happened a certain amount of time ago, you use hace with the preterite tense:
Hace una hora que llegué.
(I arrived an hour ago.)
Hace cinco años que se mudaron.
(They moved five years ago.)
Students frequently confuse this usage because English doesn’t require any special structure for this concept. We simply say the time ago without any equivalent to hace, making it easy to forget this requirement when speaking Spanish.
Exploring Durante: The Time Frame
The preposition durante means during in English and indicates a specific time period within which something occurs. Unlike desde and hace, which emphasize the beginning or duration of an ongoing action, durante focuses on the time frame in which something takes place without necessarily implying that the action continues afterward.
You typically use durante with a specific time period noun:
Viajé por Europa durante dos meses.
(I traveled throughout Europe for two months.)
Estudiaban durante la tarde.
(They were studying during the afternoon.)
One of the key differences between durante and hace involves the nature of the action described. Durante emphasizes the time period when something occurred but does not necessarily imply that it continues into the present. By contrast, desde and hace typically indicate ongoing or continuous situations.
Compare these two sentences to see the distinction:
Trabajé durante cinco años. (I worked during a five-year period.)
Hace cinco años que trabajo aquí. (I have been working here for five years.)
In the first sentence, you might have stopped working at that job. In the second sentence, you are still employed there. This subtle but important difference often confuses learners who have not developed a strong intuition for Spanish temporal expressions.
Durante can also be used when an action occurs throughout a specific time period without breaks:
Llovió durante toda la noche.
(It rained throughout the entire night.)
Many students make the mistake of using durante when describing how long something has been happening up to the present moment. This is incorrect. For ongoing situations that began in the past and continue to the present, you must use either desde or hace, never durante.
Comparing the Three: Side-by-Side Examples
To solidify your understanding, let’s examine parallel sentences using all three prepositions:
Estoy aquí desde las nueve de la mañana.
(I have been here since nine in the morning.)
[Marks the starting point]
Hace tres horas que estoy aquí.
(I have been here for three hours.)
[Emphasizes the duration]
Estaré aquí durante la reunión.
(I will be here during the meeting.)
[Indicates a specific time frame]
All three sentences convey related information about being somewhere, but each uses different terminology to emphasize different aspects of the temporal situation. Learning to recognize which aspect you want to emphasize will help you choose the correct preposition.
Here’s another set of examples with different verbs:
Estudiamos desde enero.
(We have been studying since January.)
[Starting point]
Hace dos meses que estudiamos.
(We have been studying for two months.)
[Duration]
Estudiamos durante el verano.
(We studied during the summer.)
[Time frame; may or may not be ongoing]
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
The most frequent error involves using the present perfect tense with desde when describing ongoing situations. English speakers naturally want to say something like He has lived here since 2010, but Spanish requires the simple present: Vive aquí desde 2010.
Another common mistake involves confusing durante with hace when expressing how long something has been occurring. Remember that durante describes a specific time period, while hace emphasizes duration from the past to the present.
Students also frequently forget the que in the standard hace construction. While you might see the structure without que used colloquially, the standard form includes it: Hace tres años que vivo aquí rather than simply Hace tres años vivo aquí.
Additionally, learners sometimes use durante when they should use desde or hace with present tense verbs. If something is still happening now, you cannot use durante. For example, saying Trabajo durante cinco años is incorrect if you still work there; you should say Trabajo aquí desde hace cinco años or Hace cinco años que trabajo aquí.
Practice and Application
To develop confidence with these prepositions, practice converting sentences between the different structures. If you can say the same idea using desde, hace, and potentially durante (where applicable), you demonstrate true mastery of these concepts.
Additionally, pay attention to native speakers’ usage when watching Spanish media or reading Spanish texts. Notice how often each preposition appears and in what contexts. This exposure will help train your brain to recognize the patterns and use these prepositions automatically without conscious translation from English.
Create flashcards with example sentences and practice identifying which preposition is used and why. Actively engaging with the material will accelerate your learning process.
Conclusion
Mastering the distinctions between desde, hace, and durante requires patience and deliberate practice, but understanding these differences is absolutely essential for achieving intermediate-level Spanish proficiency. Desde marks the starting point of an action, hace emphasizes the duration from past to present, and durante describes a specific time frame. Remember that ongoing situations require either desde with the present tense or hace with the present tense, never durante. By internalizing these rules and practicing regularly, you will eliminate these common errors from your Spanish and communicate with greater clarity and precision.
