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Haber is a Spanish verb which translates into English as “have (modal verb)”.
Below are all of the conjugations for haber in Spanish, in all three moods (indicative/indicativo, subjunctive/subjunctivo and imperative/imperativo) and all of the tenses, for each pronoun.
The vosotros pronoun is mainly used in mainland Spain, and is the informal second-person plural – it could be considered the Spanish version of “y’all”. It is rarely found in Latin America, where ustedes is used instead.
The vos form is used instead of tú in some Spanish speaking countries of South America, especially the Southern Cone (e.g. Argentina and Uruguay) and has a different conjugation.
| English Infinitive | have (modal verb) |
|---|---|
| Spanish Infinitive | haber |
The gerund (gerundio) is used with the continuous tenses, e.g. present continuous (está habiendo) and past continuous (estaba habiendo). The easiest way to think of it is the equivalent of english’s -ing form (e.g. having).
The past participle (participio) is used with perfect tense ‘haber’ verbs, e.g. he habido and hubiera habido. These are the equivalent of English’s ‘have’ (e.g. have had).
| Gerundio / Gerund | habiendo |
|---|---|
| Participio / Past Participle | habido |
The basic form of speech, el indicativo is used for making statements, talking about facts, events and things that are certain and objective.
The present tense is as it sounds – it’s for talking about things that are currently going on, which are habitual, or which generally exist. In English, this would be “I have” or “they have”.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | he |
| Tú | has |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha |
| Nosotros / as | hemos |
| Vosotros / as | habéis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han |
| Vos | has |
Your simple past tense, e.g. “I had” or “she had” in English.
In Spanish, there are two past tenses where just one is used in English; the pretérite infefinido is typically used to refer to a concrete, specific moment in time.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | hube | I had |
| Tú | hubiste | You had |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubo | He / she / you had |
| Nosotros / as | hubimos | We had |
| Vosotros / as | hubisteis | You had |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieron | They / you had |
| Vos | hubiste | You had |
The pretérito imperfecto roughly translates as “I was having” or “she was having” in English, and is typically used to describe things and set a scene, talk about events without a specific timeframe, or talk about habitual events or states in the past.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | había | I was having |
| Tú | habías | You were having |
| Él / Ella / Usted | había | He was / she was / you were having |
| Nosotros / as | habíamos | We were having |
| Vosotros / as | habíais | You were having |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habían | They / you were having |
| Vos | habías | You were having |
The perfect tense is for talking about things which happened in the past but are still related to the present or continue into the present.
In English, these use the auxiliary verbs ‘have’ and ‘has’ – i.e. “I have had” and “she has had”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | he habido | I have had |
| Tú | has habido | You have had |
| Él / Ella / Usted | ha habido | He has / she has / you have had |
| Nosotros / as | hemos habido | We have had |
| Vosotros / as | habéis habido | You have had |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | han habido | They / you have had |
| Vos | has habido | You have had |
The conditional is used in place of the English modal verb “would”, i.e. “I would have” or “she would have”. It can be used to talk about hypothetical situations.
| Pronoun | Spanish | Englush |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | habría | I would have |
| Tú | habrías | You would have |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habría | He / she / you would have |
| Nosotros / as | habríamos | We would have |
| Vosotros / as | habríais | You would have |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habrían | They / you would have |
| Vos | habrías | You would have |
The future tense, simply put, replaces the English modal verb “will” – i.e. “I will have” or “they will have”.
It is more commonly used for making a hypothesis about the present. To talk about the future, Spanish speakers frequently use “ir + a + infinivo”, e.g. “van a haber” means “They are going to have”.
| Pronoun | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | habré | I will have |
| Tú | habrás | You will have |
| Él / Ella / Usted | habrá | He / she / you will have |
| Nosotros / as | habremos | We will have |
| Vosotros / as | habréis | You will have |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | habrán | They / you will have |
| Vos | habrás | You will have |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya |
| Tú | hayas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan |
| Vos | hayas |
There are two ways to form the imperfect subjunctive.
The first option sees verbs ending in -era (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ara (for -ar verbs), while the second sees verbs ending in -ese (for -er and -ir verbs) and -ase (for -ar verbs).
There is no difference between these two forms, and Spanish speakers use them interchangeably.
| Pronoun | Spanish era/ara | Spanish ese/ase |
|---|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera | hubiese |
| Tú | hubieras | hubiese |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera | hubiese |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos | hubiésemos |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais | hubieseis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran | hubiesen |
| Vos | hubieras | hubiese |
The future subjunctive is no longer used in modern-day Spanish, apart from in literary and legal contexts, and there is no need to learn it.
It is formed the same as the past/imperfect subjunctive, but with -e endings instead of -a endings.
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere |
| Tú | hubieres |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren |
| Vos | hubieres |
Used for forming positive and negative commands, e.g. “have!” and “don’t have!”.
| Pronoun | Spanish Affirmative | Spanish Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Tú | he | no hayas |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya | no haya |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos | no hayamos |
| Vosotros / as | habed | no hayáis |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan | no hayan |
| Vos | habé | no hayas |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | haya habido |
| Tú | hayas habido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | haya habido |
| Nosotros / as | hayamos habido |
| Vosotros / as | hayáis habido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hayan habido |
| Vos | hayas habido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiera habido / hubiese habido |
| Tú | hubieras habido / hubieses habido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiera habido / hubiese habido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéramos habido / hubiésemos habido |
| Vosotros / as | hubierais habido / hubieseis habido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieran habido / hubiesen habido |
| Vos | hubieras habido / hubieses habido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | hubiere habido |
| Tú | hubieres habido |
| Él / Ella / Usted | hubiere habido |
| Nosotros / as | hubiéremos habido |
| Vosotros / as | hubiereis habido |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | hubieren habido |
| Vos | hubieres habido |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | esté habiendo |
| Tú | estés habiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | esté habiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estemos habiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estéis habiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estén habiendo |
| Vos | estés habiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviera habiendo / estuviese habiendo |
| Tú | estuvieras habiendo / estuvieses habiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviera habiendo / estuviese habiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéramos habiendo / estuviésamos habiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuvierais habiendo / estuvieseis habiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviera habiendo / estuviese habiendo |
| Vos | estuvieras habiendo / estuvieses habiendo |
| Pronoun | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Yo | estuviere habiendo |
| Tú | estuvieres habiendo |
| Él / Ella / Usted | estuviere habiendo |
| Nosotros / as | estuviéremos habiendo |
| Vosotros / as | estuviereis habiendo |
| Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes | estuviere habiendo |
| Vos | estuvieres habiendo |
Voseo is the practice of using ‘vos’ instead of ‘tú’ as the second-person singular pronoun, and is common throughout much of South America.
There are various versions of ‘voseo’ used throughout the Spanish-speaking world. The conjugations for the most common type – used throughout Argentina, parts of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguya and Uruguay are below.
The present indicative (presente de indicativo) and affirmative imperative (imperativo) have different conjugations from the tú form, while all other tenses generally use the tú form.
| Tense | Vos Conjugation |
|---|---|
| Present Indicative Presente de Indicativo | Vos has |
| Simle Past / Preterite Preterite de Indicativo | Vos hubiste |
| Imperfect Past Preterite Imperfecto de Indicativo | Vos habías |
| Conditional Condicional | Vos habrías |
| Future Futuro de Indicativo | Vos habrás |
| Present Subjunctive Presente de Subjunctivo | Vos hayas |
| Imperfect Subjunctive Imperfecto de Subjunctivo | Vos hubieras / Vos hubiese |
| Affirmative Imperative Imperativo | Vos habé |
| Negative Imperative Imperativo Negativo | Vos no hayas |
