Spanish vocabulary · Beginner
DOES in Spanish: HACE
Hace · verb · AH-seh
One of the trickiest concepts for English speakers learning Spanish is that does as an auxiliary verb in questions has no direct translation. Where English requires do or does to form questions like Does he work here?, Spanish simply uses intonation and question marks: ¿Él trabaja aquí? When does functions as a main verb meaning to do or to make, it translates to hacer, conjugated as hace for he/she/it. Grasping this structural difference is a major milestone in thinking in Spanish rather than translating from English.
AH-seh
¿Ella habla español?
Does she speak Spanish?
Does in Spanish: Quick Reference
Below are the most common Spanish words for does, with pronunciation and regional usage notes.
| Spanish | English | Pronunciation | Region / Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| hace | does | AH-seh | Default, widely understood |
| (no direct equivalent) | does | Spanish uses intonation or ¿ to form questions |
How Native Speakers Use Hace
Real example sentences across three contexts you'll actually run into.
Forming a question
¿Tu hermano estudia en la universidad?
Does your brother study at the university?
Shows how Spanish forms a question without an auxiliary verb.
Main verb usage
¿Qué hace tu papá los fines de semana?
What does your dad do on weekends?
Uses hace as the main verb meaning does/do.
Negative question
¿No entiende la pregunta?
Does he not understand the question?
A negative question formed with no instead of an auxiliary.
Avoid These Mistakes When Using Hace
Adding an auxiliary verb
Incorrect: ¿Hace ella hablar inglés?
Correct: ¿Ella habla inglés?
Spanish does not use an auxiliary verb like does to form questions; the question is created through intonation and inverted question marks alone.
Direct translation of 'does not'
Incorrect: Ella does not habla español.
Correct: Ella no habla español.
The English auxiliary does not has no counterpart in Spanish; negation is handled simply by placing no before the conjugated verb.
Lock in Does Vocabulary with the Parrot Method
Why word lists alone don't stick
Memorizing a translation feels productive, but most learners forget 70% of what they studied within 48 hours. Vocabulary needs spaced repetition AND real-world exposure to transfer to long-term memory.
See Hace used by native speakers
Parrot's short-form videos feature native speakers using hace in real situations. Context-based exposure beats flashcards, you hear ¿Ella habla español? while watching someone live the moment, connecting meaning, sound, and rhythm at once.
Save, review, repeat, stay consistent
Tap any word to save it. Parrot's spaced-repetition system surfaces it right before you'd forget, no manual flashcard creation. The watch, parrot back, save, review cycle turns recognition into fluency at 2.7x the speed of traditional study.
Common Questions About Does in Spanish
- Why doesn't Spanish use 'does' in questions?
- Spanish verb conjugations already carry subject information through their endings, so an auxiliary word like does would be redundant; questions are signaled by intonation and the inverted question mark ¿ instead.
- When does 'hace' mean 'does'?
- Hace translates as does only when does functions as a main verb meaning to do or to make, as in ¿Qué hace ella? (What does she do?), not when does is a question-forming auxiliary.
- How do I form yes/no questions in Spanish?
- Simply raise your intonation at the end of a statement and add question marks: the statement Tú comes pizza becomes the question ¿Tú comes pizza? (Do you eat pizza?) with no structural change needed.