Did in Spanish: Hice, Hiciste, Hizo and How to Translate Did
When “did” means “did something”, the Spanish is the past tense of hacer: hice (I did), hiciste (you did), hizo (he, she, you formal did), hicimos (we did), hicisteis (you all did, Spain) and hicieron (they, you all did). When “did” is only a helper in a question or a negative (Did you eat? I didn’t go), Spanish has no word for it: you put the main verb in the past tense, ¿Comiste? / No fui.
That second point is the one that trips up English speakers. English needs “did” to make questions and negatives in the past; Spanish builds them with the verb itself, question marks and no. This page covers both jobs, plus short answers like “Yes, I did”, emphatic “I did tell you”, and the choice between the preterite and the imperfect.
“Did” in Spanish: a quick picker
| English | Spanish | What happens to “did” |
|---|---|---|
| I did my homework. | Hice la tarea. (Spain: Hice los deberes.) | verb hacer, preterite |
| What did you do? | ¿Qué hiciste? | helper vanishes; do becomes hiciste |
| Did you call her? | ¿La llamaste? | no word; llamar in the preterite |
| I didn’t go. | No fui. | no + preterite |
| Yes, I did. / No, I didn’t. | Sí. / No. (or Sí, la llamé. / No, no la llamé.) | no word; repeat the verb if you want |
| So did I. / Neither did I. | Yo también. / Yo tampoco. | no verb at all |
| I did tell you! | ¡Sí te lo dije! / ¡Te lo dije! | emphasis with sí or tone |
| You saw it, didn’t you? | Lo viste, ¿no? / Lo viste, ¿verdad? | tag becomes ¿no? or ¿verdad? |
| How did you do (in the exam)? | ¿Cómo te fue (en el examen)? | idiom with ir |
“Did” as a verb: the preterite of hacer
Hacer means both “to do” and “to make”, and its preterite is irregular: the stem changes to hic- and the endings carry no written accent.
| Person | Hacer, preterite | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | hice | EE-seh | Hice todo lo posible. (I did everything I could.) |
| tú | hiciste | ee-SEES-teh | ¿Qué hiciste el fin de semana? |
| él, ella, usted | hizo | EE-soh | Ella hizo un pastel. (She made a cake.) |
| nosotros, nosotras | hicimos | ee-SEE-mohs | Hicimos ejercicio por la mañana. |
| vosotros, vosotras (Spain) | hicisteis | ee-SEES-tays | ¿Hicisteis la compra? |
| ellos, ellas, ustedes | hicieron | ee-SYEH-rohn | Hicieron un buen trabajo. |
The “s” sound in the pronunciations is the Latin American one. In most of Spain the c and z here are said like English “th”: hice is EE-theh and hizo is EE-thoh. The spelling hizo uses z simply to keep that sound before o.
Because hacer also means “make”, the same forms translate “made”: Hice la cena can be “I made dinner”. For how this irregular pattern compares with regular verbs, see irregular vs regular preterite.
When English “did” is not hacer
English uses “do” with many activities where Spanish prefers a specific verb. Translate the meaning, not the word:
- I did the dishes. → Lavé los platos. (Spain also: Fregué los platos.)
- She did her hair. → Se peinó. / Se arregló el pelo.
- We did the shopping. → Hicimos la compra (Spain) / Hicimos las compras (much of Latin America).
- He did well. → Le fue bien. / I did badly in the test. → Me fue mal en el examen.
- They did a course in Madrid. → Hicieron un curso en Madrid.
- I did nothing all day. → No hice nada en todo el día. (Spanish uses the double negative no … nada.)
- You did me a favour. → Me hiciste un favor.
Questions with “did”: no extra word
In Spanish, a yes/no question in the past is the statement with question marks and rising intonation. The subject often goes after the verb or disappears, because the verb ending already shows who:
- Did you sleep well? → ¿Dormiste bien?
- Did they arrive on time? → ¿Llegaron a tiempo?
- Did María call? → ¿Llamó María?
- Did you (usted) find the hotel? → ¿Encontró el hotel?
With a question word, put the question word first and the verb right after it:
- What did you buy? → ¿Qué compraste?
- Where did you go? → ¿Adónde fuiste? / ¿Dónde fuiste? in casual speech
- When did it happen? → ¿Cuándo pasó?
- Why did you do that? → ¿Por qué hiciste eso?
- Who did you see? → ¿A quién viste? (Spanish needs the personal a before a person.)
Negatives with “didn’t”: no + past tense
“Didn’t” becomes no placed directly before the verb (and before any object pronoun):
- I didn’t see the film. → No vi la película.
- We didn’t win. → No ganamos.
- She didn’t tell me. → No me lo dijo.
- I didn’t know. → No sabía. (A state, so the imperfect; see below.)
“Yes, I did”, “So did I” and emphatic “did”
English short answers repeat “did”. Spanish usually answers with sí or no, and if you want a fuller answer you repeat the real verb, not hacer:
- —¿Llamaste a tu madre? —Sí. / Sí, la llamé. (“Yes, I did.”)
- —¿Terminaste el informe? —No, todavía no. (“No, I didn’t. Not yet.”)
- —Me encantó la película. —A mí también. (“So did I.” With gustar-type verbs the reply is a mí también / a mí tampoco.)
- —Fui a la fiesta. —Yo también. / —No fui a la fiesta. —Yo tampoco.
- —¿Quién rompió el vaso? —Yo no. Fue Pedro. (“I didn’t. Pedro did.”)
Answer Sí, lo hice (“Yes, I did it”) only when the question was about doing something: —¿Hiciste la tarea? —Sí, la hice.
Emphatic “did” (“I did lock the door”) has no direct equivalent. Use sí before the verb, or a phrase such as de verdad: Sí cerré la puerta, Te llamé, de verdad. In Spain you will also hear Sí que cerré la puerta.
Preterite or imperfect?
Everything above uses the preterite, the tense for completed actions: hice, comí, fui. But English “did” and the simple past also cover things Spanish puts in the imperfect.
| English | Spanish | Tense and why |
|---|---|---|
| I did my homework last night. | Hice la tarea anoche. | preterite: one finished action |
| I did my homework every night (as a child). | Hacía la tarea todas las noches. | imperfect: a habit |
| Did you know him? | ¿Lo conocías? | imperfect: a state |
| Did you meet him at the party? | ¿Lo conociste en la fiesta? | preterite: conocer = “met” here |
| I didn’t want to go. | No quería ir. | imperfect: what you felt |
| I refused to go. | No quise ir. | preterite: no quise = “I refused” |
| We didn’t know the answer. | No sabíamos la respuesta. | imperfect: a state |
| When did you find out? | ¿Cuándo lo supiste? | preterite: saber = “found out” |
| I couldn’t open it (I tried and failed). | No pude abrirlo. | preterite: an attempt that failed |
A rough guide: if you could say “used to” or “was …ing” in English, or the verb describes a feeling, a state or a background, Spanish usually wants the imperfect. If it is an event you could put a time stamp on, use the preterite. The full comparison is on preterite vs imperfect, and the regular endings are on the preterite tense in Spanish.
Spain: “did” today is often “has hecho”
In most of Spain, actions that happened earlier today or in a period that includes now are usually put in the present perfect: ¿Qué has hecho hoy? (“What did you do today?”), Esta mañana he ido al médico. Most of Latin America uses the preterite here: ¿Qué hiciste hoy?, Esta mañana fui al médico. Both are correct where they are used. See present perfect vs preterite.
A short dialogue
- Ana: Hola, Diego. ¿Qué hiciste el sábado?
- Diego: Fui a la playa con mis primos. ¿Y tú?
- Ana: Nada especial. Hice la compra y limpié la casa. ¿Nadaste?
- Diego: No, el agua estaba muy fría. Pero mi prima sí nadó.
- Ana: ¿Y llamaste a Marta?
- Diego: Sí, la llamé, pero no contestó.
Notice that only two of those verbs are hacer. Every other English “did” (Did you swim? Did you call Marta?) disappears into the verb.
Common mistakes
| Avoid | Say | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ¿Hiciste comer? | ¿Comiste? | The helper “did” is not translated with hacer. |
| Yo hací / él hació | Yo hice / él hizo | Hacer is irregular in the preterite. |
| hizó, hicé | hizo, hice | The irregular hic- forms have no accent. |
| Ayer comía pizza. | Ayer comí pizza. | One finished action: preterite. |
| De niño, jugué al fútbol todos los días. | De niño, jugaba al fútbol todos los días. | A past habit: imperfect. |
| No supe la respuesta. (meaning “I didn’t know it”) | No sabía la respuesta. | No supe means you could not come up with it at that moment; for not knowing, use the imperfect. |
| —¿Fuiste? —Sí, lo hice. | —¿Fuiste? —Sí, fui. / Sí. | Repeat the real verb, not hacer. |
Practice with answers
Translate into Spanish (use tú for “you”).
- What did you do yesterday?
- Did you see the match?
- I didn’t go to work.
- They did a great job.
- “I loved the concert.” “So did I.”
- “Did you finish?” “Yes, I did.”
- We did the dishes after dinner.
- When I was young, I did karate every week.
- How did you do in the interview?
- I did lock the door!
Answers: 1. ¿Qué hiciste ayer? 2. ¿Viste el partido? 3. No fui al trabajo. 4. Hicieron un gran trabajo. 5. —Me encantó el concierto. —A mí también. 6. —¿Terminaste? —Sí. / Sí, terminé. 7. Lavamos los platos después de cenar. 8. Cuando era joven, hacía kárate todas las semanas. 9. ¿Cómo te fue en la entrevista? 10. ¡Sí cerré la puerta con llave! / ¡Sí que cerré la puerta! (Spain)
Quick answers
What is “did” in Spanish?
As a verb, the preterite of hacer: hice, hiciste, hizo, hicimos, hicisteis, hicieron. As a helper in questions and negatives, it is not translated: Did you go? = ¿Fuiste?
How do you say “I did” in Spanish?
Hice (“I did [it]”: Lo hice). In a short answer, Sí or the real verb is more natural: —¿Lo viste? —Sí, lo vi.
How do you say “What did you do?” in Spanish?
¿Qué hiciste? to one friend, ¿Qué hizo? to someone you address as usted, and ¿Qué hicieron? (or ¿Qué hicisteis? in Spain) to a group.
Does “hizo” have an accent?
No. Hizo, like hice, is written without an accent, unlike regular preterites such as habló or comí.
Is “did” always the preterite?
Usually, but not always. Habits (“I did yoga every morning”) and states (“Did you know?”) go into the imperfect: Hacía yoga cada mañana, ¿Sabías?
For a wider view of past forms, see past tense in Spanish, or browse more everyday words in the Spanish vocabulary hub.
