Hacer is one of the most important irregular verbs in Spanish — it appears in virtually every GCSE and A-Level task.
Practice hacer free →Hacer means 'to do' or 'to make', but its reach goes well beyond those two verbs. It drives weather expressions (hace frío, it's cold; hace sol, it's sunny), time phrases (hace dos años, two years ago), and countless set expressions. Hacer is irregular: the yo form is hago, and the preterite is wholly irregular (hice, hiciste, hizo — note the spelling change to z). Because it shows up in so many everyday contexts, from talking about the weather to describing your routine, it is one of the most practically useful verbs to drill. Examiners frequently test the irregular preterite, so the forms hice and hizo are worth memorising cold.
Quick facts
Hacer (to do / make) is an irregular -er verb.
Real sentences across different tenses — the kind of thing you'd actually say or write.
The literal core: hago mis deberes (I do my homework), hacer una tarta (to make a cake).
Most weather expressions use hacer: hace calor (it's hot), hace viento (it's windy), hace buen tiempo (the weather's nice).
Hace + time means 'ago': hace dos años (two years ago), hace un momento (a moment ago).
Many fixed phrases: hacer una pregunta (to ask a question), hacer la cama (to make the bed), hacer ejercicio (to exercise).
Fixed expressions worth knowing — they come up in listening, reading and writing tasks.
Idiomatic expressions
The preterite yo form is hice (not *hació). Third person is hizo. The past participle is hecho — used in the perfect: he hecho = I have done. Hacer also covers weather: hace frío, hace sol.
Only the yo form is irregular (it does not follow the pattern). All other forms use the regular -er endings on the stem hac-.
Completely irregular stem: hic- for most forms, but hiz- for él/ella to preserve the soft-c sound before -o.
Irregular future stem: har- (the -ce- is dropped entirely). Apply regular future endings to har-.
Uses the same contracted stem as the future: har-.
Irregular past participle — it does not end in -ido. Think of the pattern: des-hacer → des-hecho.
Irregular past participle — same form as in the present perfect.
Irregular tú imperative: haz (not hace). All other forms use the subjunctive: haga, hagamos, haced, hagan.
Uses the irregular future stem har-: habré hecho. Note the irregular participle hecho.
Type conjugations from memory and get instant feedback. That's how you actually build the automatic recall the exam needs — not from reading tables.
Practice hacer now →Three questions, no account needed. Type the form, then press Enter or tap Check.
yo: hago, tú: haces, él: hace, nosotros: hacemos, vosotros: hacéis, ellos: hacen
Hacer is irregular. The tenses with irregular forms are: Presente, Pretérito Indefinido, Futuro, Condicional, Pretérito Perfecto, Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto, Imperativo, Futuro Compuesto.
The past participle is hecho (he hecho) and the gerund is haciendo (estoy haciendo).
Verbs that are easy to confuse with hacer or that behave like it.
Hacer is on the AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas GCSE Spanish vocabulary lists. Compare the exam boards.
Written by Daniel Holmes for GCSE & A-Level Spanish students.