"ago" in seven languages
Meaningago
Spanish
/ˈaθe/
inherited
Comes first: hace dos años.
French
/ilja/
other source · Latin HABET 'has', with y from IBI 'there'
Comes first: il y a deux ans.
Italian
/fa/
inherited
Comes last, like English: due anni fa.
Portuguese
/a/
other source · Latin HABET 'has' (the verb haver)
Placed before the time: há dois anos.
Romanian
/aˈkum/
other source · spoken Latin *ECCUM MODO 'look, just now'
Acum means 'now'; before a span of time it means 'ago': acum doi ani.
Catalan
/fa/
inherited
English
/əˈgoʊ/
native English · Middle English agoon 'gone by'
The Latin ancestor
FACIT‘makes, does’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
Spanish and Italian say time 'makes' two years (hace, fa, both from FACIT); French says 'there are' two years. Spanish lost the F- to a silent h.
English relatives: fact, factory
Sound laws at work
Learn it
In a sentence
- esLlegué hace dos años.
- frJe suis arrivé il y a deux ans.
- itSono arrivato due anni fa.
- ptCheguei há dois anos.
- roAm sosit acum doi ani.
- caVaig arribar fa dos anys.
- enI arrived two years ago.