Haberlo aprendido fue muy útil: uses of the verb haber
he verb haber can be challenging for those learning Spanish as a foreign language. As we will see in this article, it has several functions: it is used as an auxiliary for compound tenses, it has the impersonal form "hay" to indicate the existence of something, and it also forms part of other types of constructions. Additionally, it has irregular conjugation in several verb tenses. In this article we will briefly review each of its functions with usage examples for each one. We will not see the conjugation in detail because to see that it suffices to consult any conjugation table and because, moreover, for each of the functions of the verb haber that we will see in this article, there is or will be an article that develops it in depth. The idea here is to summarize the functions of this verb so that, when seeing each of them in detail, you already have notions and it is not something completely new. Let's go!
The verb haber comes from the verb habēre, from Latin, which means tener. With this same meaning it passed into medieval Spanish but, with the evolution of the language, the expression of possession in Spanish opted for the verb tener and the verb haber came to be used mainly as an auxiliary. Although it retains the meaning of expression of possession, this use nowadays constitutes an archaism.
Uses of the verb haber.
Haber as auxiliary: the most frequent use of the verb haber is as an auxiliary to form the compound tenses of all verbs in Spanish. In this function, haber is conjugated according to the subject and verb tense, while the main verb appears in past participle. Let’s see some examples.
Pretérito perfecto compuesto: in this verb tense the verb haber is conjugated in present indicative and the main verb appears in past participle. Here you can read more about the present perfect.
He estudiado español durante dos años (I have studied Spanish for two years).
¿Has visto mi libro? (Have you seen my book?).
Futuro perfecto: this verb tense is used to express the completion of an action that will occur in the future. In this case the verb haber is conjugated in futuro simple and the main verb appears in past participle. We will see this topic in depth in a future article.
Mañana a esta hora ya habré llegado a Madrid (Tomorrow at this time I will have already arrived in Madrid).
Para el viernes habremos completado el proyecto (By Friday we will have completed the project).
Unreal conditional sentences: they express a past situation dependent on a condition that can no longer be fulfilled. These sentences are composed of a main clause that expresses the condition, and a subordinate clause that expresses what would have happened if the condition expressed in the main clause had been fulfilled. In these constructions the verb haber appears in both clauses: in the main clause in pretérito perfecto de subjuntivo, composed of the verb haber in pretérito imperfecto de subjuntivo plus the past participle of the main verb, and in condicional perfecto, formed by the condicional simple of the verb haber plus the past participle of the main verb, in the subordinate clause. We will see this topic in several future articles.
Si hubiera estudiado más, habría aprobado el examen (If I had studied more, I would have passed the exam).
Si hubiéramos salido antes, no habríamos perdido el tren (If we had left earlier, we wouldn’t have missed the train).
Of course, the above-listed are not all the verb tenses in Spanish. There are many more. The purpose of these examples is to show the verb haber in its use as an auxiliary.
The impersonal form hay: One of the most particular characteristics of the verb haber is its impersonal use with the form hay (present) and its equivalents in other tenses. This form is invariable and is used to express the existence or presence of something or someone. This is a non-conjugated form: hay is always used in present and the third person singular in the rest of the verb tenses regardless of the grammatical subject. Here you can read more about this use of haber.
No hay tiempo para descansar (There is no time to rest).
No había suficientes sillas para todos (There weren’t enough chairs for everyone).
Hubo problemas, pero se solucionaron (There were problems, but they were solved).
Other Constructions.
Haber de + infinitive: expresses obligation, necessity or convenience of executing the verbal action. It corresponds to the verbal periphrasis tener que + infinitive, the latter much more used in spoken language. In this case the verb haber is conjugated with the grammatical subject.
He de estudiar para el examen = Tengo que estudiar para el examen (I have to study for the exam).
Hemos de hacer las compras = Tenemos que hacer las compras (We have to do the shopping).
Haber que + infinitive: expresses obligation or convenience in an impersonal way, that is, the verb haber appears in its form hay in present indicative and in its equivalents in other verb tenses (third person singular) regardless of the grammatical subject.
Hay que estudiar mucho para aprender español (One must study a lot to learn Spanish).
Había que llegar temprano a la cita (One had to arrive early to the appointment).
In the case of pronominal verbs, since this construction is impersonal, the pronoun se is used: if we want to say, for example, hoy tenemos que acostarnos temprano (today we have to go to bed early) using this construction the correct form is hoy hay que acostarse temprano, being ungrammatical hoy hay que acostarnos temprano.
Compound infinitive: it is formed with the verb haber in infinitive plus the past participle of the main verb. It expresses a past and completed action, generally with some consequence in the present.
Lamento no haber llegado a tiempo (I regret not having arrived on time). (First I didn’t arrive on time, and then I regret it).
Gracias por haberme invitado (Thank you for having invited me). (First you invited me, and then I thank you).
Me alegro de haberte visto antes de que te fueras (I’m glad to have seen you before you left). (First I saw you, and then I was glad).
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, these lines are intended to be a summary of frequent uses of the verb haber. This verb is very frequently used in the language, so we will see its uses in many more articles. I hope this text has been useful to you and, as always, thank you for reading.
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