Habia, hubo
Hi,
I have tons of questions tonight 
I have never given this a second thought until tonight. Long ago I learned that "hay" means "There is" or "There are". Then I learned that "había" is the equivalent of "hay" in the past tense, meaning "there was" or "there were", and I've been using it in this way. However, unless "había" is a special case that doesn't really follow the rules, shouldn't the following be true:
-It should be changed to "habían" when referring to more than one thing - ie "habían dos libros en el suelo"
-Hubo or hubieron should be used when appropriate, according to the rules of imperfect vs. preterite - ie "Ayer a las dos hubieron tres perros en la calle"
Thanks.
5 Answers
Describing the scene or providing background action means telling what has been and is going on when something else happens or interrupts that action.
I was talking on the phone when the doorbell rang.
The talking on the phone is indefinite as far as durations goes. I could have been talking on the phone for 1 minute or 1 hour previous to the interrupting action. I also could continue talking on the phone. No starting or stopping point or length of duration is emphasized. No completion in the past is given.
When you use words like yesterday, last week, last year, etc. you are usually emphasizing a start/sop/duration. Yesterday at two o'çlock is definitely emphasizing a starting time. Hubo would be used there. It implies that at a later time that action was completed or that the three dogs were not there indefinitely or at the present (ongoing). You can use these words with the imperfect, but only if there is no duration for the time period yesterday. Yesterday, I was talking on the phone when....sometime yesterday.
The preterite, hubo, would be used to show the existence of things that are momentary, have a start/stop/duration and are then completed in the past. There was someone at the door when the doorbell rang but when I invited him in or he left that action became completed in the past.
So impersonal haber, hubo are used exactly like the preterite, imperfect for any other verb. It just has a more restricted form. Use había for habitual actions or indefinite start/stop/duration (ongoing) actions and hubo for actions that are of a short duration and are completed in the past.
The impersonal forms are 3rd person, singular in all tenses and moods.
Notice that Hay means=there is (singular), or there are (pl)
Había; hubo=there was (singular), there were (plural)
Hay un libro....
Hay dos libros...
Había un libro....
Había dos libros...
Sorry, but the best article that I could find is in Spanish.
Hi, thanks for the responses. I understand the plural vs. singular part but I'm still a bit unclear on when to use habia vs hubo. I ask this because it seems to me like habia is used much more often than hubo (and because I've been using habia almost exclusively). Going back to my example, "Ayer a las dos hubieron tres perros en la calle", wouldn't the haber in this sentence be considered to be describing the setting, and thus take the imperfect? And wouldn't this be the case almost all of the time for a verb such as haber - it is almost always going to be describing the scene?
Hey , well just like you don't say , "Han dos libros.." you also don't say "Habían/Hubieron dos libros.." well actually I read that Catalonians use "Habían tres manzanas.." But it's not correct.. Hubo is just like Maria-Claire's said.. The things that can happen only onces.. But if you think logically the thing which are not cirrcumstance can be used with hubo
As for when to use había or hubo:
Hubo. It happened once, it's over and finished. Había would describe something that happened in the past, but happened frequently
"Hubo un asesinato" (there was a murder - it happened at a particular moment)
"Habia fiestas todos los sabados en nuestra pueblicito." (there were parties every saturday in our town)
And a little info about using hay and había for plural: there are/there were as well as singular there is/there was Hay/Había
