Impersonal Verbs and Expressions

Impersonal verbs (verbos impersonales) have no specific subject—they describe weather, general situations, or states. Understanding these is essential for natural Spanish expression.

Key Characteristic: These verbs typically use third-person singular (él/ella form) with no explicit subject.

Weather Verbs

Core Weather Verbs (Always Impersonal)

These verbs only exist in third-person singular form:

Verb	Meaning	Example
llover	to rain	Llueve. (It's raining.)
nevar	to snow	Nieva. (It's snowing.)
granizar	to hail	Graniza. (It's hailing.)
lloviznar	to drizzle	Llovizna. (It's drizzling.)
tronar	to thunder	Truena. (It's thundering.)
relampaguear	to lightning	Relampaguea. (It's lightning.)

All Tenses

Llueve. (It's raining.) [present] Llovió ayer. (It rained yesterday.) [preterite] Llovía cuando salí. (It was raining when I left.) [imperfect] Lloverá mañana. (It will rain tomorrow.) [future] Ha llovido. (It has rained.) [present perfect]

Conditional and Subjunctive

Si lloviera, me quedaría en casa. (If it rained, I'd stay home.)

Espero que no llueva. (I hope it doesn't rain.)

Ojalá nieve en Navidad. (I hope it snows at Christmas.)

Hacer + Weather/Time

Hacer is used impersonally for weather conditions and time expressions.

Weather with Hacer

Expression	Meaning	Example
hace calor	it's hot	Hace mucho calor.
hace frío	it's cold	Hace frío hoy.
hace sol	it's sunny	Hace sol.
hace viento	it's windy	Hace viento.
hace buen tiempo	the weather is nice	Hace buen tiempo.
hace mal tiempo	the weather is bad	Hace mal tiempo.

Note: These use hace (singular), not hacen: ✅ Hace frío. ❌ Hacen frío.

Intensifiers

Hace mucho calor. (It's very hot.) Hace un poco de frío. (It's a bit cold.) Hace bastante viento. (It's quite windy.)

Time Expressions with Hacer

Hace dos años que vivo aquí. (I've been living here for two years.)

Lo vi hace una semana. (I saw him a week ago.)

Hace mucho tiempo. (A long time ago.)

Hay (There Is/Are)

Hay is the impersonal form of haber = "there is/are"

Hay un problema. (There's a problem.)

Hay muchas personas. (There are many people.)

No hay tiempo. (There's no time.)

All Tenses

Tense	Form	Example
Present	hay	Hay un gato. (There is a cat.)
Preterite	hubo	Hubo un accidente. (There was an accident.)
Imperfect	había	Había mucha gente. (There were many people.)
Future	habrá	Habrá problemas. (There will be problems.)
Conditional	habría	Habría más opciones. (There would be more options.)
Present Subj.	haya	Espero que haya tiempo. (I hope there's time.)
Imperfect Subj.	hubiera/hubiese	Si hubiera tiempo... (If there were time...)
Present Perfect	ha habido	Ha habido cambios. (There have been changes.)

Hacer Falta (To Need / Be Necessary)

Hacer falta = to be necessary, to need (impersonal or personal)

Impersonal

Hace falta más tiempo. (More time is needed.)

Hace falta estudiar. (It's necessary to study.)

Personal (Indirect Object)

Me hace falta dinero. (I need money.) [literally: money is lacking to me]

Te hace falta descansar. (You need to rest.)

Les hacen falta más empleados. (They need more employees.)

Plural Agreement: When the thing needed is plural, use hacen: Les hacen falta más empleados.

Bastar (To Be Enough)

Bastar con = to be enough with

Basta con llamar. (It's enough to call. / Just call.)

Basta con eso. (That's enough.)

No basta con estudiar, hay que practicar. (Studying isn't enough, you have to practice.)

Personal (Indirect Object)

Me basta con poco. (Little is enough for me.)

Le basta con saber la verdad. (Knowing the truth is enough for him.)

Parecer (To Seem - Impersonal)

When used impersonally with que:

Parece que va a llover. (It seems it's going to rain.)

Parece que no viene. (It seems he's not coming.)

Me parece que tienes razón. (It seems to me you're right.) [personal opinion]

Convenir (To Be Advisable)

Conviene salir temprano. (It's advisable to leave early.)

No conviene hablar ahora. (It's not advisable to talk now.)

Te conviene descansar. (It's advisable for you to rest. / You should rest.)

Valer la Pena (To Be Worth It)

Vale la pena intentarlo. (It's worth trying.)

No vale la pena preocuparse. (It's not worth worrying.)

¿Vale la pena ir? (Is it worth going?)

Tratarse De (To Be About)

Se trata de un malentendido. (It's about a misunderstanding. / It's a matter of a misunderstanding.)

¿De qué se trata? (What's it about?)

Se trata de trabajar duro. (It's a matter of working hard.)

Ser + Time

Ser for clock time and dates (impersonal):

Es la una. (It's one o'clock.) Son las tres. (It's three o'clock.) Es medianoche. (It's midnight.) Es lunes. (It's Monday.)

Other Impersonal Expressions

Expression	Meaning	Example
Da igual.	It doesn't matter.	Da igual qué haga.
Sobra tiempo.	There's time to spare.	Sobra dinero.
Falta poco.	There's little left.	Falta una hora.
Cuesta trabajo.	It's hard (to do).	Cuesta trabajo entender.
Da la impresión de que...	It gives the impression that...	Da la impresión de que miente.

Amanecer / Anochecer (Dawn / Dusk)

Amanecer = to dawn Anochecer = to get dark

Amanece a las seis. (It gets light at six.)

Anochece temprano en invierno. (It gets dark early in winter.)

Amanecimos en la playa. (We saw the dawn at the beach. / We were at the beach at dawn.) [personal use]

Ocurrir / Suceder / Pasar (To Happen)

Ocurrió un accidente. (An accident happened.)

¿Qué pasa? (What's happening?)

Sucede a menudo. (It happens often.)

Common Errors

❌ Plural Forms of Weather Verbs

❌ Llueven. (Llueve is always singular) ✅ Llueve.

❌ Wrong Form of Hacer

❌ Hacen frío. ✅ Hace frío.

Hacer is singular in weather expressions, even if the condition feels "plural."

❌ Estar for Weather (Usually Wrong)

❌ Está lluvia. (incorrect structure) ✅ Llueve. or Está lloviendo.

Use llover, not estar lluvia.

❌ Hay vs Es/Son

❌ Es mucha gente. ✅ Hay mucha gente.

Use hay for "there is/are," not es/son.

Practice

'It's raining.' → '_____'

'It's very hot.' → '_____ mucho calor.'

'There are many people.' → '_____ mucha gente.'

'I need money.' → '_____ dinero.'