Hacer (to Do/Make) in Spanish

In Brief

Hacer covers both English “to do” and “to make.” Its present-tense forms are hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen; only hago is irregular in this tense. Spanish also uses hace for weather—Hace calor means “It’s hot”—and hacer appears in many everyday expressions that are best learned as complete phrases.

Overview

Hacer is one of the most useful verbs in Spanish. You need it to ask what someone is doing, talk about tasks and activities, describe creating or preparing something, and comment on the weather. It appears in questions such as ¿Qué haces?, routine phrases such as hacer la cama, and statements such as Hacemos la cena.

This is an A1 topic because its basic present-tense pattern is straightforward. A conjugated form (a verb form changed to match who performs the action) usually tells you the subject, so Spanish often leaves out yo, tú, and the other subject pronouns. Hago deporte already means “I do sports”; yo is not required.

English separates “do” and “make,” but Spanish often uses one verb for both. That makes hacer convenient, but it does not mean that every English phrase with “do” or “make” translates with hacer. The safest approach is to learn common combinations as units: hacer una pregunta, hacer ejercicio, hacer la compra, and so on.

How It Works

Present-tense forms

The infinitive (the basic dictionary form of a verb) is hacer. Remove -er and most present-tense endings resemble those of a regular -er verb. The important exception is the first-person singular: hago, not haco or hazo.

Subject	Present form	Basic meaning
yo	hago	I do / I make
tú	haces	you do / you make (informal singular)
él, ella, usted	hace	he/she does or makes; you do/make (formal singular)
nosotros, nosotras	hacemos	we do / we make
vosotros, vosotras	hacéis	you all do / make (informal, mainly Spain)
ellos, ellas, ustedes	hacen	they do / make; you all do/make

Notice the spelling in haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen. Although the infinitive has -cer, these forms keep the letter c. The irregular g occurs only in hago in the present indicative. The indicative is the ordinary verb mood used for statements and factual questions.

Statements, negatives, and questions

The normal pattern is subject + form of hacer + the rest of the sentence, but the subject pronoun is often omitted:

• Hago la comida. — I make the meal.
• No hacemos ejercicio hoy. — We are not exercising today.
• ¿Haces la cama por la mañana? — Do you make the bed in the morning?

Put no directly before the conjugated verb. Spanish does not add an equivalent of the auxiliary “do” in English questions or negatives. In ¿Qué haces?, the word haces itself carries the meaning of “are you doing”; there is no separate word for “do” or “are.”

Choosing between “do” and “make”

Spanish does not make the same general distinction as English:

Main idea	Spanish pattern	Example
performing an activity	hacer + noun	hacer deporte — to do sports
completing a task	hacer + noun	hacer los deberes — to do homework
producing or preparing something	hacer + noun	hacer una tarta — to make a cake
causing a result	hacer + noun/adjective	hacer ruido — to make noise

The word after hacer is often a noun (a word for a person, place, thing, activity, or idea). Its article matters: Spanish says hacer la cama and hacer una pregunta, but normally hacer deporte and hacer ejercicio without an article when speaking generally. These combinations are vocabulary patterns, not one universal article rule.

Weather with impersonal hace

For several weather conditions, Spanish uses the third-person singular hace followed by a noun:

Spanish	Natural English
Hace calor.	It’s hot.
Hace frío.	It’s cold.
Hace sol.	It’s sunny.
Hace viento.	It’s windy.
Hace buen tiempo.	The weather is good.
Hace mal tiempo.	The weather is bad.

This use is impersonal, meaning that no person or thing performs the action. Do not add a Spanish subject equivalent to English dummy “it”: say Hace frío, not Ello hace frío. For current conditions, hay niebla (“it’s foggy/there is fog”) and llueve (“it’s raining”) use different structures, so hacer is not the verb for every kind of weather.

You can modify the weather phrase naturally: Hoy hace mucho calor (“It’s very hot today”), Aquí hace bastante viento (“It’s quite windy here”), or Por la noche hace frío (“It’s cold at night”).

High-frequency expressions

The exact English verb changes from phrase to phrase, so focus on the whole expression.

Expression	Meaning
hacer deporte / ejercicio	to do sports / exercise
hacer la cama	to make the bed
hacer la comida / la cena	to make the meal / dinner
hacer los deberes	to do homework
hacer una pregunta	to ask a question
hacer una foto	to take a photo
hacer la compra	to do the shopping / grocery shopping
hacer un viaje	to take a trip
hacer ruido	to make noise
hacer planes	to make plans

Some regional preferences differ. For example, tomar una foto is very common in much of Latin America, while hacer una foto is especially common in Spain. Both are understandable.

Examples in Context

Spanish	English	Note
¿Qué haces?	What are you doing?	Informal singular question
Hago deporte tres veces por semana.	I do sports three times a week.	Hago is the irregular yo form
¿Haces la cama todas las mañanas?	Do you make the bed every morning?	Everyday routine
Marta hace los deberes después de clase.	Marta does her homework after class.	Third-person singular
Usted hace muy buenas preguntas.	You ask very good questions.	Formal singular usted takes hace
Hacemos la cena juntos.	We’re making dinner together.	First-person plural
¿Hacéis ejercicio en casa?	Do you all exercise at home?	Informal plural used mainly in Spain
Mis vecinos hacen mucho ruido.	My neighbors make a lot of noise.	Third-person plural
Hoy no hago la compra.	I’m not doing the shopping today.	No goes before the verb
Hace calor hoy.	It’s hot today.	Impersonal weather expression
En invierno hace frío por la noche.	In winter it’s cold at night.	Weather with time information
Aquí hace mucho viento en abril.	It’s very windy here in April.	Mucho intensifies the noun viento
Ana hace una tarta para su hermana.	Ana is making a cake for her sister.	Producing something
Hacemos planes para el fin de semana.	We’re making plans for the weekend.	Common plural expression
Ellos hacen un viaje cada verano.	They take a trip every summer.	English uses “take,” not “do/make”

The English present progressive (“I am doing”) often corresponds to the simple Spanish present when the context is clear. Thus ¿Qué haces? can mean “What do you do?” or “What are you doing?” Situation and context decide which translation fits.

Common Mistakes

Using a regular form for yo

• Wrong: Yo haco la cena.
• Right: Yo hago la cena.
• Why: The present-tense yo form is irregular: hago. The other five forms keep the regular-looking stem hac-.

Adding an English-style weather subject

• Wrong: Ello hace calor hoy.
• Right: Hace calor hoy.
• Why: Weather hace is impersonal. English requires “it,” but Spanish uses no subject pronoun here.

Using hacer for every weather condition

• Wrong: Hace lluvia.
• Right: Llueve. / Está lloviendo.
• Why: Use hacer in learned expressions such as hace calor, hace frío, and hace viento. Rain normally uses llover; an action in progress can be está lloviendo.

Translating every “do” question word for word

• Wrong: ¿Hacer tú ejercicio?
• Right: ¿Haces ejercicio?
• Why: Spanish forms a basic question with the conjugated main verb. It does not need the English auxiliary “do,” and the infinitive hacer must change to haces for tú.

Assuming every English “make” takes hacer

• Wrong: Hago una decisión.
• Right: Tomo una decisión.
• Why: Verb–noun combinations do not always match across languages. English “make a decision” is normally Spanish tomar una decisión. Learn the Spanish phrase rather than replacing “make” automatically with hacer.

Choosing an article by English habit

• Wrong: Hago una deporte.
• Right: Hago deporte.
• Why: General hacer deporte has no article. By contrast, fixed everyday combinations include articles in hacer la cama and hacer la compra.

Usage Notes

Spanish commonly omits subject pronouns because the verb ending identifies the person. Hacemos café sounds complete without nosotros. Include the pronoun for contrast or emphasis: Yo hago la cena y tú haces la compra (“I’ll make dinner and you’ll do the shopping”).

Tú and usted both mean singular “you,” but they take different forms: tú haces and usted hace. For plural “you,” Spain commonly distinguishes informal vosotros hacéis from formal ustedes hacen. In most of Latin America, ustedes hacen is used in both informal and formal plural settings. Some regions use vos as an informal singular pronoun; its present form is vos hacés. Beginners can recognize this form without needing to use it immediately.

For occupations, ¿Qué haces? may ask what someone is doing now, but it can also ask what they do in life. If ambiguity matters, speakers add context: ¿Qué haces ahora? (“What are you doing now?”) or ¿A qué te dedicas? (“What do you do for a living?”).

Do not expect one English translation for each expression. Hacer una pregunta is naturally “to ask a question,” hacer una foto may be “to take a photo,” and hacer un viaje is “to take a trip.” The stable element is the Spanish phrase, not the English verb.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following patterns at A1, but they explain forms of hacer that you will meet later.

Other important forms

Hacer is irregular in several tenses, not just in hago. Its past participle (a verb form used in compound tenses such as “have done”) is hecho: He hecho la cena means “I have made dinner.” The simple past begins hice, hiciste, hizo: note hizo, not hico. Its future stem is har-, as in haré (“I will do/make”). Treat these as later paradigms rather than trying to derive them from the A1 present forms.

Hace for elapsed time

An impersonal expression with hace + amount of time can locate a past event:

• Llegué hace dos horas. — I arrived two hours ago.
• Empezamos hace una semana. — We started a week ago.

A related structure describes how long an activity has continued:

• Hace dos años que estudio español. — I have been studying Spanish for two years.

English looks backward with “ago” in the first pattern and often uses “have been” plus “for” in the second. Spanish organizes both around hace. This time use is separate from weather hace, even though the form is identical.

Making or having someone do something

Hacer + infinitive can express causing or arranging an action:

• El profesor nos hace practicar. — The teacher makes us practice.
• Hago reparar el coche. — I have the car repaired.

This is a causative construction (a structure showing that one person causes another action). Pronouns and word order can become more complex, so at beginner level it is enough to recognize the basic meaning.

Causing a result with hacer que

Hacer que + clause means “to make/cause it so that…” and is normally followed by the subjunctive (a verb form often used for reactions, wishes, influence, or non-factual possibilities):

• Esta música hace que me sienta mejor. — This music makes me feel better.
• El calor hace que durmamos mal. — The heat makes us sleep badly.

This is a later-level structure. Do not confuse it with the simpler A1 patterns hacer + noun and impersonal weather hace.

The reflexive form hacerse

With se, the verb can take on meanings such as “to become,” “to make oneself,” or “to pretend to be,” depending on context:

• Se hizo médico. — He became a doctor.
• Me hago un café. — I make myself a coffee.
• Se hace el distraído. — He pretends not to notice.

These are distinct patterns with their own usage. Learning them as extensions of hacer is more reliable than assuming that se always adds one fixed meaning.

Practice Tips

1. Build a six-form routine. Say one realistic sentence with each present form: hago, haces, hace, hacemos, hacéis, hacen. If you mainly study Latin American Spanish, still learn to recognize hacéis and actively practise ustedes hacen.
2. Learn phrase cards, not isolated translations. Put hacer la cama, hacer ejercicio, hacer una pregunta, and tomar una decisión on separate cards. This trains you to choose the natural Spanish combination instead of translating “do” or “make” mechanically.
3. Give a daily weather and activity report. Say two short lines each day, such as Hoy hace frío and Hago la compra por la tarde. This repeatedly practises both personal and impersonal uses.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Regular -ER Verbs — provides the present-tense endings that most forms of hacer resemble.