Hace…que To express how long something has been going on, Spanish uses the following formula: Hace + length of time + que + verb (in the present tense)

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1 Hace…que To express how long something has been going on, Spanish uses the following formula: Hace + length of time + que + verb (in the present tense) Hace dos años que vivo aquí I have been living here for two years. Or Verb ( in the present tense) + desde hace + length of time. Ella sale con Jorge desde hace dos años. She has been going out with Jorge since two years ago.

2 ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que + verb (present tense)?
The following constructions are used to ask how long something has been going on : ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que + verb (present tense)? ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que está en el hospital? How long has he/she been in the hospital? Or ¿Desde cuándo + verb (in the present tense)? ¿Desde cuándo está ella en el hospital? Since when has she been in the hospital?

3 Note that in Spanish, the verb Hacer and the main verb are in the present.
The English equivalent uses has or have been.

4 Hace… como equivalente de ago.
In sentences in the preterite and some cases the imperfect, Hace + period of time is equivalent to the English ago. When hace is placed at the beginning of the sentence, the construction is as follows: Hace + period of time + que + verb (in the preterite) Hace tres años que conocí a Laura. I met Laura three years ago.

5 When hace and the time expression follow the verb, que is not used.
Conocí a Laura hace tres años. I met Laura three years ago. To ask how long ago something happened use the following formula: ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que + verb (in the preterite) ? ¿Cuánto tiempo hace que fuiste al cine? -Hace dos semanas que fui al cine. -Fui al cine hace dos semanas.