Conjugating the Irregular Spanish Verb Hacer (to Do/Make)

Spanish Phrases For Dummies

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like hacer, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular (follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

In the present tense, hacer (ah-sehr) (to do/make) has an irregular yo form, but otherwise it conjugates like a regular -er verb. Other popular irregular Spanish verbs include: ser, ir, dormir and estar. Here’s the present tense conjugation:

The Present Tense of **Hacer**
Conjugation	Translation
yo hago	I do
tú haces	You (informal) do
él/ella/ello/uno hace	He/she/one does
usted hace	You (formal) do
nosotros hacemos	We do
vosotros hacéis	You all (informal) do
ellos/ellas hacen	They do
ustedes hacen	You all (formal) do

The following examples show you hacer in action:

¿Haces tu trabajo con buena voluntad? (Do you do your work willingly?)
Yo hago mi trabajo en silencio. (I do my work in silence.)

In the preterit, hacer has an irregular stem: hic-. The third-person singular form undergoes a c-to-z spelling-change to preserve the correct pronunciation. Notice also that hacer doesn’t have the accent marks regular verbs use in the preterit. Take a look:

The Preterit Tense of **Hacer**
Conjugation	Translation
yo hice	I did
tú hiciste	You (informal) did
él/ella/ello/uno hizo	He/she/one did
usted hizo	You (formal) did
nosotros hicimos	We did
vosotros hicisteis	You all (informal) did
ellos/ellas hicieron	They did
ustedes hicieron	You all (formal) did

You use the preterit tense like this:

Hice mucho ejercicio anoche. (I exercised a lot last night.)
Los turistas hicieron una parada en Madrid. (The tourists made a stop in Madrid.)

Good news: Hacer conjugates regularly in the imperfect form. Check out the following table and examples.

The Imperfect Tense of **Hacer**
Conjugation	Translation
yo hacía	I used to do
tú hacías	You (informal) used to do
él/ella/ello/uno hacía	He/she/one used to do
usted hacía	You (formal) used to do
nosotros hacíamos	We used to do
vosotros hacíais	You all (informal) used to do
ellos/ellas hacían	They used to do
ustedes hacían	You all (formal) used to do

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

¿Hacían ustedes buenas obras? (Did you used to do good works?)
Si. Hacíamos buenas obras siempre. (Yes. We always used to do good works.)

Hacer also has an irregular stem in the future tense: har-. However, it does use the normal future endings:

The Future Tense of **Hacer**
Conjugation	Translation
yo hare	I will do
tú harás	You (informal) will do
él/ella/ello/uno hará	He/she/one will do
usted hará	You (formal) will do
nosotros haremos	We will do
vosotros haréis	You all (informal) will do
ellos/ellas harán	They will do
ustedes harán	You all (formal) will do