Hacer mucho

[poli]

I know that hace frio means it's cold out and hace mucho generally means
produces a lot, but I have seen written texts where hace mucho
has other meanings like in the phrase hace mucho que no tomo el sol.
Can someone clarifiy hace mucho's meanings for me? Thank you.

[Rusty]

Hace is used in time expressions, in addition to several other uses (some of which you mentioned). The last example you gave is an expression of time.

In English, we express that in terms of "How long it has been." In Spanish, we express that in terms of "How long it makes." The formula is hace + length of time + present tense verb. The length of time can be an adverb or an adverbial phrase.
For example:
Hace mucho que no nos vemos. (It's been awhile since we've seen each other.)
Hace tres años que vivo en Los Ángeles. (I've lived in Los Angeles for three years.)

[Fazor]

So the example sentence, 'Hace mucho que no tomo el sol' would mean it's been a long time since I've gotten sun? The 'tomo' is what's throwing me off, as the only way I know to conjugate that is "since I took the sun"; but I'm guessing that means 'been out in'?

[Ambarina]

Originally Posted by Fazor

So the example sentence, 'Hace mucho que no tomo el sol' would mean it's been a long time since I've gotten sun? The 'tomo' is what's throwing me off, as the only way I know to conjugate that is "since I took the sun"; but I'm guessing that means 'been out in'?

Generally when you say "Tomar el sol" you mean "sunbathe". At least in Spain it does.
Hace mucho que no me da el sol - It's been a long time since I've been out in the sun.

[Fazor]

Okay. I figured it was something along those lines, but tomar seems to be one of those words that's used in many different ways and in many different idioms.

[poli]

Thanks Rusty. What threw me off in hace (tiempo) mucho que no tomo sol was the fact that tiempo was left out. Now I know that you can leave tiempo out of it and still be understood

[chileno]

Originally Posted by poli

Thanks Rusty. What threw me off in hace (tiempo) mucho que no tomo sol was the fact that tiempo was left out. Now I know that you can leave tiempo out of it and still be understood

Funny! As it is exactly the same situation with "How long ..." for Spanish speaking, when learning English.

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by poli

Thanks Rusty. What threw me off in hace (tiempo) mucho que no tomo sol was the fact that tiempo was left out. Now I know that you can leave tiempo out of it and still be understood

Yes,

Hace mucho que ...
Hace mucho tiempo que ...
Hace tiempo que ...

are equivalent.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Hace is used in time expressions, in addition to several other uses (some of which you mentioned). The last example you gave is an expression of time.

In English, we express that in terms of "How long it has been." In Spanish, we express that in terms of "How long it makes." The formula is hace + length of time + present tense verb. The length of time can be an adverb or an adverbial phrase.
For example:
Hace mucho que no nos vemos. (It's been awhile since we've seen each other.)
Hace tres años que vivo en Los Ángeles. (I've lived in Los Angeles for three years.)

Then you leave me understand this because is very important have clear this phrase.

The word Hace mucho does not exist at English?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo

Then you leave me understand this because is very important have clear this phrase.

The word Hace mucho does not exist at English?

The phrase hace mucho (que) can be translated into English as it's been awhile (since). I mentioned this above.

Hace mucho que no nos vemos.
= It's been awhile since we've seen each other.

[CrOtALiTo]

Rusty. Sometimes I wanna run way of you. Because you know about everything in the world of the words and letters.