Hube vs. Había y El Subjuntivo Futuro

Question

People have told me that hube and había are the same except you use hube moreso in literature. Is this true? For example is hube traducido the same as había traducido. Pasado perfecto = Pretérito perfecto?

Also I read on spanish.about.com that the future subjunctive is all but obsolete. Is this true and whether it is or isn't can you give me an example of the future subjunctive in a sentence.

Gracias

Answer 1

People have told me that hube and había are the same except you use hube more so in literature. Is this true? For example is hube traducido the same as había traducido. Pasado perfecto = Pretérito perfecto?

Also I read on spanish.about.com that the future subjunctive is all but obsolete. Is this true and whether it is or isn't can you give me an example of the future subjunctive in a sentence.

Gracias

Check 1/2 way down this thread and you will see a suggestion on when to use hubo and when to use había. (if you are going to Google any articles [of which there are many] check hubo .vs. había; not hube .vs. había)

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php't=53654

I believe that the argument presented in the above article would apply to both the simple and compound tenses. When they contrasted the imperfect .vs. perfect (preterite) meanings I followed it, but when they used the terms imperfect .vs. indefinite I wasn't sure if they were using the correct terminology.)

future subjunctive (becoming obsolete)
http://www.elearnspanishlanguage.com/grammar/verbs/futuresubjunctive.html

Answer 2

Thank you for replying but I wasn't asking about hubo at all. I just wanted to know if the Pasado perfecto(habia) was the same as the Pretérito perfecto(hube) i guess I didn't word the question right Thanks anyway

Answer 3

People have told me that hube and había are the same except you use hube moreso in literature. Is this true? For example is hube traducido the same as había traducido. Pasado perfecto = Pretérito perfecto?

Not exactly: In perfect tenses (e.g. hubo comido) "hubo" can always be replaced by "había", but the reverse is not true. "Hubo" is used when one action follows another immediately, whereas "había" does not necessarily have to be immediately after. In practice, "hubo" (and the other forms) is rarely used except in literature.

However, When you use "haber" as an impersonal, "hubo" and "había" are completely different, and most of the time you have to chose the right one:

Hubo un accidente
Hubo que hacer algo
Había mucha gente

The rules that determine the choice of tense here is the usual imperfect / preterite one.

Also I read on spanish.about.com that the future subjunctive is all but obsolete. Is this true and whether it is or isn't can you give me an example of the future subjunctive in a sentence.

The future subjunctive is practically dead. You will struggle to find a native who can tell you even how to use it, and if you give them a sentence with this tense, they wouldn't even know whether it sounds right or not. It only survives in old sayings and in legal jargon (designed to sound complicated to anyone who is not a lawyer).

Answer 4

we almost don't use "hube" i haven't seen it in my spanish =s
we prefer to use "habia".

nosotros casi no usamos el hube, yo no habia visto eso en mi español =s, nosotros preferimos usar el habia.

saludos desde México