Habían (en. Had)

/a'βjan/

Meaning & Definition

EnglishSpanish

verb

Indicates existence in the past.

There were many people at the party.

Habían muchas personas en la fiesta.

Used to form compound tenses in past sentences.

They had finished the work before the deadline.

Habían terminado el trabajo antes de la fecha límite.

Used in conditional or hypothetical constructions.

If they had been here, they would have seen it.

Si hubieran estado aquí, lo habrían visto.

The verb 'haber' comes from the Latin 'habere', which means 'to have' or 'to possess'.

there were many things

There were numerous things.

habían muchas cosas

if they had gone

If they had been present.

si hubieran ido

they had agreed

They had reached an agreement.

habían acordado

to have

Verb that indicates possession or existence.

haber

there was

Form of the verb 'haber' in the first and third person singular of the imperfect past.

había

there will be

Form of the verb 'haber' in the third person singular of the future indicative.

habrá

Sometimes used colloquially to refer to hypothetical situations of the past.

If they had arrived on time, the story would be different.

Si hubieran llegado a tiempo, la historia sería diferente.

In some regions, it can be humorously used to exaggerate a situation from the past.

At the party, there was so much food you could feed an army.

En la fiesta, había tanta comida que podrías alimentar a un ejército.