Wednesday, May 19, 2010

HUBO VS. HABIA


Hubo / Había = verbo “haber” [there was/were]

This question came from a former student, via Twitter. (You may follow me at http://www.twitter.com/luluee.

First, when translated into English, these two forms of the verb haber mean “there was.” The key is that “hubo” is the third person singular of haber in the preterite tense, while “había” is the third person singular of the same verb but in the imperfect. This is grammatically speaking. In actuality, “haber” by itself is an impersonal verb. It is also the auxiliary verb of compound tenses, example: “Yo había terminado la tarea antes de las 5:00 p.m” = I had finished my homework before 5:00 pm. In modern Latin American Spanish, “hube terminado” is rarely used, but if you need to use it, think of it as “once I had finished doing something.”

Now, let's see: the difference between the preterite (hubo) and the imperfect (hubo).

Both verbal tenses refer to the past, but the imperfect offers the context and the preterite provides the action. The imperfect—or imperfecto, which is also known as “copretérito” meaning next to the preterite—will only give us information about how people, places, animals, objects, etc. were or used to be in the past, for a period of time. When I say,

Había un accidente en la carretera 64.

[“There was an accident on highway 64.” / Think about it in this way, “An accident occurred at some time on 64” or “An accident was occurring/happening on 64.”]

The accident is not the most important part of my speech. It is only a reference to something else that I consider much important than the accident. In other words, this is the background information. In fact, we have no idea for how long that accident was there. It just happens that when I was on 64, I saw that there was an accident. However, when I change to the preterite, the meaning changes:

Hubo un accidente en la carretera 64.

[“There was an accident on highway 64.” / Think of it as “An accident happened on 64,” in other words, the accident begun and finished already.]

Here the focus IS the accident. After this sentence, I will probably provide more specific information, such as the time, the place, etc., but the information will not be as important as the accident.

How do I know when to use either one? It is a matter of context and taste.

Hubo is simply more dramatic and more important than había. But don't ditch the latter just yet, because it serves a very important purpose: we can start a story with it. Examples:

  • Había una vez una princesa que vivía en un palacio. [Once upon a time there was a princess who lived in a palace.]
  • Cuando mi abuela tenía 20 años no había computadoras personales. [When my grandmother was 20-years-old there were no personal computers.]
  • El semestre pasado no había muchos estudiantes en la clase de honores. [Last semester there were not that many students in the honors class.]
  • Cuando llegamos al pueblo había una fiesta muy animada. [When we arrived to the town there was a very animated party.]

The first three phrases use the imperfect only, therefore they are pure context. The last one mixes preterite and imperfect, which is a very common situation. In this sentence, “when we arrived to the town” is more important; we have no idea when the party begun or finished. Probably “we arrived” in the middle of it. If we flip the sentence, the meaning is the same, but the emphasis changes,

Había una fiesta muy animada cuando llegamos al pueblo [There was a very animated party when we arrived to the town.]

But it all depends on what the speaker believes the most important part is.

A few more examples with “hubo.”

Ayer hubo una elección. [There was an election yesterday.]
Hubo dos huracanes el año pasado. [There were two hurricanes last year.]
Hace dos años hubo una conferencia sobre Cervantes en nuestra universidad. [There was a lecture on Cervantes in our university two years ago.]

I hope this helps.



27 comments:

  1. This was a good lecture, but the use of accident seems like an awful example. Just so you know maybe you can use some positive event that happened in the past.

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    1. really?? go away

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    2. Ahhhh the year 2016, people everywhere offended by everything. "Hubo una persona en la red, llorando sobre una lección de español." Better example?

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    3. The examples are great. As a Spanish teacher I know how hard it is to always come up with “happy” examples!

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    4. Hello, thank you for a comprehensive lesson on Haber. Did you however misspeek when you wrote
      "when translated into English, these two forms of the verb haber mean “there was.”
      Would it have been better to write
      "when translated into English, these two forms of the verb había mean “there was.” ?
      Thank you
      Will

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    5. No actually she didn't. Haber is the infinitive. Había is haber conjugated in the imperfect, 3rd person singular.

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    6. All in all, what a fun thread. Thanks for the controversy raised Sabrina.

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  2. I'm sorry for using such crazy type of examples. I'll try to use "happier" examples. However, accidents are perhaps the easiest way to remember.

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  3. I think your examples are great. I think Sabrina is too sensitive.

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  4. I love your examples. Bien claro son! Paul (Pablo)

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  5. Or, maybe,(o, tel vez), debia decir, "Bien claros son!"

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    1. I would say...
      ¡Son muy claros!
      Notes: Don´t forget the "¡" at the beginning.
      Remember that "bien" = good and "muy" = very so you want "muy"
      It's not easy to explain in few words and it's fine "debia decir", but I would better say "debería decir".

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  6. Very helpful! Thanks!

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  7. Thanks for the grammar explanation. I was wondering about Hubieron. I thought we used Hubo for the 3rd person singular in the preterite, while using Hubieron for the 3rd person plural. E.g. Hubieron dos huracanes el ano pasado. I'm obviously wrong, and it seems we use hubo in both cases. Just to clarify, Hubieron is not used in the plural. If this is the case, I've been giving my dad the wrong information. Thank you.

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    1. this was my question as well

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    2. Remember that there is NO NEED TO CONJUGATE Haber according to the nouns when Haber is used to mean 'there is/are'. ONLY 1 conjugated form of Haber in each tenses is accepted: the ELLO/ELLA form.

      1. Present tense: Hay (Hay dos perros en casa)
      2. Preterite: Hubo
      3. Imperfect: HabIa

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  8. Great! Really answered my question! Examples were great too!

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  9. can i say hubo una mancha en mi camisa ayer

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  10. It's the Pluperfect that bothers me. It has a contradictory nature.
    First it is a PERFECT
    Perfects indicate a completed action.
    Second it is an IMPERFECT because it uses imperfect suffixes in conjugation. Thus we have a
    "Perfect Imperfect" Say what?? a Perfect Imperfect !!!

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  11. Sí me gustan tus ejemplos tambien. Llevo varios años tratando de entenderlos. Muchas gracias.

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  12. Thank you. I find this explanation very helpful.

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  13. As helpful in 2022 as it was in 2020.

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  14. I meant to say it is as helpful in 2022 as it was in 2010

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