Where does "hay" in Spanish come from?

Question

In my spanish class we have suddenly started using hay. Where does this come from?

Answer 1

It comes from the impersonal use of the verb haber and means something like "there to be", not good English I know, however, some examples which might make it a bit clearer.

Hay - There is/are

Haya - let there be, may there be

habido - there having been

habiendo - there being

había - there was/were (imperfect)

hubo - there was/were (past definite)

habrá - there will be

habría- there would be

ha habido- there has been

había habido - there had been

etc, etc, etc with all the other terms using habido.

I believe there is also a form "ha" used to denote "ago" as in expressions of time, example "mucho tiempo ha" a long time ago.

• I think the second thing your thinking about is actually "hace" for 'hace mucho tiempo' - Himself12794 Feb 14, 2012