Why do you say hace dos años (it makes two years) for two years ago?
The answer isn’t the translation — it’s the middle layer, where English word order is rearranged into Spanish logic before a single word is swapped.
The thought · English
Two years ago.
The structure · English in Spanish logic
It-makes two years.
The Spanish
Hace dos años.
The rule
Spanish measures elapsed time with “hace” — the verb hacer (to make/do) used impersonally — meaning “it makes / there is.” “Hace dos años” = “it makes two years (since then)” = two years ago. The same hace builds weather and duration: “hace calor” (it makes heat = it’s hot), “hace una hora que espero” (I’ve been waiting for an hour).
Reading the structure is step one. Feeling it is the moat — watch the words physically rearrange, then say your own sentence and the bartender answers.
Restructure “Hace dos años.” live →