Haber Vs. Tener

Question

I have been using verb 'Tener' for have in all situations but just came across the verb 'Haber' which seems to be similar.

When should Haber be used instead of Tener for have?

Answer 1

Tener is to have in a personal form whereas Haber is impersonal and is also used as a helping verb with the past participle of other verbs, in its simplest form indicative congugations of Haber is used to express past events i.e. He tenido, He visto, He hecho, He ido etc. I have had, I have seen, I have done and I have been etc.

Answer 2

Haber is not easily explained. One thing though is that it is not used in the sense of "to have as in to possess". To have as in to possess is the verb "tener".

Here is a link to another learning site and it's explanation of the uses of the verb haber. Follow this link ----> Using Haber

Haber is often thought of as an auxilliary or helping verb. It is also found in idiomatic uses like "hay" as in there is (exists) or there are (exists).

Tener tends to be the verb used to indicate ownership or posession. It is a whole other class of verb and a whole other study.

Answer 3

Haber is used to form the perfect tenses Tener is only used to indicate possesion

• tener que - lorenzo9 Dec 21, 2010

Answer 4

The best thing to do is look at the various examples in the dictionary entries for haber and tener.