Is "hubieron" a word in Spanish?

Question

I know technically I'm a fluent speaker but I have to admit my formal training is minimal. When you want to say something like, "there were many people...," in Spanish, is it correct to say, "Hubo (or) hubieron muchas personas...'" I'm leaning towards the first option but you hear and see so much incorrect grammar (in Spanish and English) nowadays that you can never be too sure.

Answer 1

Academically speaking, you should say:

"Hubo muchas personas..."

It is not unusual to hear people saying "Hubieron...", but it is still unacceptable in formal writings, schools, newspapers..., and sometimes naturally rejected by many natives too. There is a chance that it will change in the future, but if it does, it will create many syntactic incongruences that will eventually confuse the natives themselves, even if they don't know what grammar means. For example, the same verb, in present tense, it is invariable:

Hay un gato.
Hay dos gatos.

Their direct object pronouns change accordingly:

Lo hay.
Los hay.

So "un gato" is clearly not a subject, but an object. Why should it be different in past tense?

In past tense:

Hubo un gato - Lo hubo
Hubo dos gatos - Los hubo

Impersonal constructions can be very counter-intuitive, until you analize them more carefully.

The very "haber", when it means "there is/are", is impersonal, and the verb should always remain in the third person singular, according to all grammars. That is the prescriptive rule, at least.

Answer 2

Wow, thanks!

Answer 3

te entiendo muy bien, pero tengo otra pregunta, podria decirme que en cuales situaciones se pueden usar "hubieron"?

lazarus1907 said:

Academically speaking, you should say:"Hubo muchas personas..."It is not unusual to hear people saying "Hubieron...", but it is still unacceptable in formal writings, schools, newspapers..., and sometimes naturally rejected by many natives too. There is a chance that it will change in the future, but if it does, it will create many syntactic incongruences that will eventually confuse the natives themselves, even if they don't know what grammar means. For example, the same verb, in present tense, it is invariable:Hay un gato.Hay dos gatos.Their direct object pronouns change accordingly:Lo hay.Los hay.So "un gato" is clearly not a subject, but an object. Why should it be different in past tense'In past tense:Hubo un gato - Lo huboHubo dos gatos - Los huboImpersonal constructions can be very counter-intuitive, until you analize them more carefully.The very "haber", when it means "there is/are", is impersonal, and the verb should always remain in the third person singular, according to all grammars. That is the prescriptive rule, at least.

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Answer 4

Angela said:

te entiendo muy bien, pero tengo otra pregunta, podria decirme que en cuales situaciones se pueden usar "hubieron"?
As a helping verb, viz. Pretérito perfecto

Answer 5

Angela said:

te entiendo muy bien, pero tengo otra pregunta, podria decirme que en cuales situaciones se pueden usar "hubieron"?

Sure, as an auxiliary for other verbs:

Hubieron de conformarse (Literary)
Una vez que hubieron terminado, se fueron (Not very used)

Answer 6

hubieron, Viene de "Haber". As I know, yes "Hubieron" is a spanish word

Answer 7

aqui creo q esta la forma mas facil d entenderlo : es el diccionario d la real academia española online :http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Search&redirs=0&search=hubieron&fulltext=Search&ns0=1