1. Telling How Long Something Has Been Happening or How Long Ago Something Happened Hace… que: Another use of hacer (Part 1) 39
Hace + period of time + que + present tense expresses an action that has been going on over a period of time and is still going on.
Hace dos horas que leo. I’ve been reading for two hours.
Hace tres años que vivimos en esta casa. We’ve been living in this house for three years.
¿Cuánto tiempo hace que…? expresses how long something has been going on.
–¿Cuánto tiempo hace que vives en esta residencia? How long have you been living in this dorm?

2. Telling How Long Something Has Been Happening or How Long Ago Something Happened Hace…que: Another use of hacer (Part 2) 39
To say how long ago something happened, use the same hace… que construction but with the preterite tense instead of the present. Omit que when the hace phrase does not come at the beginning of the sentence.
Hace tres años que fui a Bogotá. I went to Bogotá three years ago.
Fui a Cancún hace un mes. I went to Cancún a month ago.
The verb form hace in this impersonal construction never varies. However, the verb that accompanies the expression is always conjugated.
OJO

3. Expressing Unplanned or Unexpected Events Another Use of se40
(a + Noun or Indirect Object Pronoun) se Pronoun Verb Subject
(A mí) Se me cayó la taza de café.
¿(A tí) Se te perdió la cartera?
A Antonio se le olvidaron los apuntes.
The subject of the verb is the thing that was forgotten, lost, dropped, and so on. The verb form agrees with this subject.
A Julia se le perdieron las llaves. (Subject: the keys)
OJO

4. ¿Por o para? A summary of their uses41
¿Por o para? A summary of their uses
Por
Reason, cause
by/by means of
through/along
during/in (time of day)
because of/due to
for = reason or cause for
for = in exchange for
for = for the sake of, on behalf of
for = period of time (often omitted)
Para
Goal, purpose, destination
in order to + infinitive
for = destined for/to be given to
for = toward/in the direction of
for = by (deadline, specified future time)
for = to be used for
for = as compared with/in relation to others
for = in the employ of