TutorLily
Try for Free
SpanishConjugationImperfect

Haber (to have) · Imperfect

By TutorLily Editorial Team · Last updated

Haber in the Spanish imperfect (pretérito imperfecto) is: yo había, tú habías, él/ella/usted había, nosotros/as habíamos, vosotros/as habíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes habían. The imperfect of haber is fully regular (había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían). It serves two roles: as the auxiliary in the pluperfect tense ('había comido' = I had eaten), and as the impersonal 'había' meaning 'there was / there were' in a descriptive/ongoing past sense.

haber conjugation in the Imperfect (Pretérito imperfecto)
To HaveHaber
I used to have
yo había
you used to have
tú habías
he/she used to have
él/ella/usted había
we used to have
nosotros/as habíamos
you used to have
vosotros/as habíais
they used to have
ellos/ellas/ustedes habían
Examples

Haber (to have) in context

Sentences that use haber in the imperfect. Tap each to hear it.

Había comido antes de salir.

I had eaten before going out.

Habías visto la película tres veces.

You had seen the movie three times.

Había mucha gente en el parque.

There were many people in the park.

Habíamos terminado el examen muy rápido.

We had finished the exam very quickly.

Habíais estado de viaje todo el verano.

You had been traveling all summer.

Los niños habían crecido sin sus padres.

The children had grown up without their parents.

Tip

Working with the imperfect

The imperfect paints the background of a past scene: weather, age, habits, descriptions, ongoing actions that get interrupted. "Era de noche" (it was nighttime), "tenía cinco años" (I was five years old), "iba al parque cuando me llamaste" (I was going to the park when you called me). Only three verbs are irregular in the imperfect — ser (era), ir (iba), and ver (veía). Every other Spanish verb is regular here, which makes the imperfect one of the easiest tenses to learn.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

How do you conjugate haber in the imperfect?
Haber is regular in the imperfect: yo había, tú habías, él/ella/usted había, nosotros/as habíamos, vosotros/as habíais, ellos/ellas/ustedes habían. The impersonal form 'había' (= there was / there were) is identical in spelling to the él/ella/usted form. The accent on 'í' is required in every form.
What is the pluperfect, and how does haber fit in?
The pluperfect (pluscuamperfecto) describes an action completed BEFORE another past action: 'Cuando llegué, ya había comido' (When I arrived, I had already eaten). It's formed with haber's imperfect + past participle: había comido, habías comido, etc. The pluperfect is one of the most-used compound tenses in narrative Spanish — anchoring earlier past events.
Why is 'había' invariable when used impersonally?
When 'había' means 'there was / there were', it follows the same invariability rule as 'hay' — it doesn't agree with the number of things existing: 'había una persona' (there was one person), 'había muchas personas' (there were many people). Spanish learners and some native speakers occasionally say 'habían muchas personas', but the RAE considers this non-standard. The impersonal form stays singular in standard Spanish.
TutorLily

Practice Haber (To Have) in real conversations

TutorLily is your personal language tutor that catches every mistake gently and keeps the conversation going.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play

3-day free trial · Cancel anytime · 50+ languages

As seen on
BBC News

More tenses of Haber (To Have)

← Previous tense
Haber (to have) · Preterite
Next tense →
Haber (to have) · Subjunctive

More verbs in imperfect

All tenses
Haber (to have)
imperfect
Ser (to be)
imperfect
Estar (to be)
imperfect
Tener (to have)
Get TutorLily