Había una vez VS érase una vez, once upon a time

Question

I always heard "Había una vez" now I see "érase una vez" and I'm not even sure where "érase" comes from, maybe ser. Are they both right, where does érase come from/. Gracias.

Your questions always send me to the books, - pacofinkler, Jan 20, 2011

Answer 1

Where does it come from? Believe me, you don't want to know! The only explanation I can think of will fill at least two pages of a book, and it is utterly unnecessary unless you are studying historical linguistics. Among teachers, these sort of things are regarded as "not worth the effort", because you spend far too much to achieve very little, so in this case we don't give explanations... at all. As Gekko said, both are used, and natives never analyse them; we simple take them for granted.

Gracias. Haré lo mismo. - jeezzle, Jan 20, 2011

Answer 2

You might find this interesting (excerpted from the DPD) regarding the concordance between singular and plural subjects.

Érase una vez

Como verbo intransitivo, tiene múltiples significados, entre ellos el de ‘haber o existir’, que es el que aparece en la expresión érase (una vez)..., con la que tradicionalmente se da comienzo a los cuentos. Aunque por tratarse de una expresión fosilizada, y por influjo de la expresión sinónima invariable había una vez..., puede usarse con el verbo inmovilizado en singular (Érase una vez tres niños...), es preferible establecer la concordancia en plural cuando el grupo nominal que sigue a ser —que funcionalmente es su sujeto— es plural: «Éranse una vez unos ruidos horribles de cristales rotos» (Riaza Palacio [Esp. 1982]); «Éranse una vez un rey y una reina»

Diccionario panhispánico de dudas ©2005
Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados

That's just the beginning of the story I was trying to avoid, but the DPD puts the gist of it quite well. - lazarus1907, Jan 20, 2011

I would be interested in the fuller story....I find particularly interesting the historical development of set phrases within a language. - Izanoni1, Jan 20, 2011

Answer 3

I always wondered about that,Thanks!.

Answer 4

Interesting thread jeeezle, thanx for posting it. I learned a new phrase today!

Answer 5

nice question

Answer 6

They are both right, and used indistinctly by cliché-loving storytellers.

¿Pero de donde ha salido ese bicho? De la palabra ser? - jeezzle, Jan 20, 2011