# My phone had gotten broken a few months ago.



## mooj96

Does the tense of "hacer" in "hace + tiempo" ever change?

Would I say: "Mi móvil se había roto *hace* unos meses," or 

"Mi móvil se había roto *hacía/hizo* unos meses"?


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## Hector9

I'd say: "Mi móvil (_celular_ in Latin America) se había roto *hace* unos meses"

The other one (*hacía* and/or *hizo*) doesn't sound correct to my ears.


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## Chipsis

I think the same as Hector9, but I just looked it in the RAE and it says that you can use:
"hizo" in the past: Ayer hizo un mes.
"hará" in the future: Mañana hará un año. 
I'd never heard "hizo", but "hará" it's more frequent and sometimes I use it.


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## scratchtp

My understanding is that you would  only use hacía unos meses when it is used in conjunction with another statement in the past.  For example
Mi celular se había roto hacía unos meses así que me compré uno nuevo.
Since me buying myself a new phone occurred in the past, and the cellphone broke before that, it would be hacía.

If I´m wrong, someone please correct me!


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## Orejitas

Shouldn't it be "se habia descompuesto"?   Unless it actually broke in pieces


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## Bevj

I have never heard 'descomponer' used in this context.  To me it means to break_ into pieces_ (in the sense of 'dismantling' something) rather than to _break down_.
I'm not a native speaker but I would use 'roto'.


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## Orejitas

Whoa interesting, I guess we need a native speaker on this one.  Maybe it's a regional difference?  I have always understood that "romper" (or "quebrar") is for when something physically breaks, like a pencil, and "descomponer" is for when something stops working, like a phone or a car or a fridge.


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## blasita

scratchtp said:


> Since me buying myself a new phone occurred in the past, and the cellphone broke before that, it would be hacía.



Exactly, so I would also use: *hacía*. I'd say, for example: _Se me había roto el móvil hacía ya unos meses. Se me había roto el móvil unos meses antes._

Now, I'm not sure I understand it right. That 'ago' is confusing me; I mean it looks like it's referring to the present, but that past perfect is 'a past in the past'. Can someone bring some light here, please?


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## roanheads

Hola blasita,
Mis diez centavos.----Si se toma el hilo, en seco, tal como se ha escrito, entonces yo diría " ( desde hoy) hace unos meses que mi móvil se había roto."
Pero si se extiende la frase----"(ya) hacía unos meses que mi móvil se había roto cuando me compré otro"    ( se refiere a un suceso totalmente del pasado)

A moment ago " hace un momento"
A week ago " hace una semana"
A few months ago " hace unos meses"

Saludos.


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## aldonzalorenzo

Orejitas said:


> Whoa interesting, I guess we need a native speaker on this one.  Maybe it's a regional difference?  I have always understood that "romper" (or "quebrar") is for when something physically breaks, like a pencil, and "descomponer" is for when something stops working, like a phone or a car or a fridge.


Perhaps you're (technically) right but, at least in Spain, I think we say *roto *for almost everything.


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## blasita

roanheads said:


> Hola blasita,
> Mis diez centavos.----Si se toma el hilo, en seco, tal como se ha escrito, entonces yo diría " ( desde hoy) hace unos meses que mi móvil se había roto."



Muchas gracias por tu ayuda, Roanheads.

Pero es que yo diría aquí 'se rompió hace unos meses'; no 'había roto' (esto no tiene sentido si la referencia es el presente).

Vamos a ver lo que opinan los demás. Un saludito.


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## Masood

blasita said:


> Exactly, so I would also use: *hacía*. I'd say, for example: _Se me había roto el móvil hacía ya unos meses. Se me había roto el móvil unos meses antes._
> 
> Now, I'm not sure I understand it right. That 'ago' is confusing me; I mean it looks like it's referring to the present, but that past perfect is 'a past in the past'. Can someone bring some light here, please?


Personally, I wouldn't use the past perfect in this sentence - I would use the past simple. 
The sentence in question sounds like a regional (American) way of saying "My phone broke a few months ago".

See what others suggest.


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## blasita

OK, thanks, Masood. If it's like a past simple, then I'd personally say it as above: 'se rompió hace/hace unos o algunos meses que se rompió'.


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## Quique Alfaro

mooj96 said:


> Does the tense of "hacer" in "hace + tiempo" ever change?



Hola:

Yes, it does.

(hoy) *Hace* dos años que estamos separados. (_se cumplen_ dos años de separados)
(hoy) *Hace* varios días que se me rompió el móvil.

(por entonces) *Hacía* ya dos años que estábamos separados. (se cumplían ya dos años de separados)
(por entonces) *Hacía* varios días que tenía el móvil roto.

El mes pasado *hizo* dos años que estamos separados. (acá _hizo_ es equivalente a _se cumplieron_)
Ayer *hizo* una semana (desde) que se me rompió el móvil.

El mes que viene *hará* dos años que estamos separados. (_hará_ es equivalente a _se cumplirán_)
Mañana *hará *una semana que tengo el móvil roto. (_hará_ es equivalente a _se cumplirá_)


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## roanheads

Masood,
I completely agree with you, this thread as it stands is very much AE. I do not think we would ever use " gotten " ( instead of " got" ) as the past participle, which in this case entails the use of the Pluperfect " had", therefore it appears that in this example American English is being translated to British English then to Spanish.

Saludos


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## scratchtp

Originally I was going to say that had gotten whatever didn´t sound very familiar to me, but then I realized I would say things like I had gotten stuck at work... Never really thought about it...  Well now that I´ve gotten more confused about my english  

Anyways, now I´m a little bit confused about how to use hizo/hacía, which I thought I more or less understood (a dangerous thing to think I´m beginning to realize)...  if you use hizo period of time que, is it always used with very specific or exact times?

For example:
Ayer hizo 5 años que estamos casados would imply that yesterday was our 5th year wedding aniversary?
whereas 
Hacía 5 años que estábamos casados would mean we had been married for 5 years, at some point in the past?

And one last question, if I were to translate I had quit my job 3 years before I moved to whereever, New York for example would it be
Hacía 3 años que había renunciado (or can you just use the preterite, renuncié?) antes de que (is antes de que necesarry or is it understood to be included in the hacía 3 años?) me moviera a Nueva York.


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## Quique Alfaro

scratchtp said:


> Anyways, now I´m a little bit confused about how to use hizo/hacía, which I thought I more or less understood (a dangerous thing to think I´m beginning to realize)... if you use hizo period of time que, is it always used with very specific or exact times?
> 
> For example:
> Ayer hizo 5 años que estamos casados would imply that yesterday was our 5th year wedding aniversary?
> whereas
> Hacía 5 años que estábamos casados would mean we had been married for 5 years, at some point in the past?



I think you got it right. Bear in mind, though, that _very specific time_ may be a year, or even a century.

_El año pasado hizo cinco años de la muerte de mi abuelo.

El siglo pasado hizo quinientos años del descubrimiento de América.

_


scratchtp said:


> And one last question, if I were to translate I had quit my job 3 years before I moved to whereever, New York for example would it be
> Hacía 3 años que había renunciado (or can you just use the preterite, renuncié?) antes de que (is antes de que necesarry or is it understood to be included in the hacía 3 años?) me moviera a Nueva York.



_Ya hacía tres años que había renunciado *cuando* me mudé a Nueva York.
_(you can't use the preterite _renuncié_)


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## scratchtp

Thanks for the quick reply, I take it that the preterite can never be used with hacía?


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## blasita

_Hacía_ ya X meses que se me _había roto_ el móvil. No, Scratchtp, the preterite (_rompió_) is not used here. But: _Hace_ ya X meses que se me _rompió _el móvil.


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## horsewishr

I wasn't going to comment at first, but with all this discussion/confusion, I have to add my 2 cents worth.

The original phrase, "My phone had gotten broken a few months ago" sounds very strange, or at least incomplete to me.  I don't agree that this is simply an American construction.  


I can envision myself saying something like:
My phone had been broken for two months already when xx occurred.  
or
My phone was broken two months ago, and then xx occurred. 

No se me ocurre ninguna frase para emplear "My phone had gotten broken a few months ago."

If I had to use the "had gotten" construction, I'd say:
My phone had gotten broken a few months before/prior to xx.  


I think Blasita nailed it:


> Now, I'm not sure I understand it right. That 'ago' is confusing me; I mean it looks like it's referring to the present, but that past perfect is 'a past in the past'. Can someone bring some light here, please?


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## roanheads

Interesting comments on " gotten "----here.

Saludos


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## mooj96

Yeah I guess my phrasing of the sentence was awkward. 

There is other context to "complete the thought" for the sentence. It went something like:

"My phone had been broken for a few months so I went to go replace it last weekend."

It seems that "Hacía unos meses que se me había roto el móvil" is the best candidate?

"Hacía unos meses que se me había roto el móvil así que fui a cambiarlo el fin de semana pasado."


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## blasita

mooj96 said:


> Yeah I guess my phrasing of the sentence was awkward. *Well, the fact is that we're all learning here and I would like you to tell us about that sentence and similar structures you would use, please.*
> 
> There is other context to "complete the thought" for the sentence. It went something like:"My phone had been broken for a few months so I went to go replace it last weekend.""Hacía unos meses que se me había roto el móvil así que fui a cambiarlo el fin de semana pasado."


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## mooj96

Well, to me, saying "My phone had broken a few months ago" to indicate that that *had* happened at a certain point in the past doesn't sound right. "My phone broke," oddly enough, sounds perfect. So I got around this by butting in a "gotten" which sounded loads better. "My phone had been broken" wasn't the exact meaning I was going for, though.


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## blasita

Thank you for your reply, Mooj.


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## mooj96

You're welcome, blasita. Also, "had gotten" could also be "had become," i.e., "My phone had become broken" since being "broken" is a condition.


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## just getting it

_Se me había roto el móvil hacía ya unos meses_
I think it's very well said


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