Hubo vs Había

Question

Ok, I know that hubo is the pretiert tense and había is the imperfect tense, but I'm soooo confused when you use each one. All my spanish textbook says is I quote:

"The imperfect tense of haber, había and the irregular preterite-tense form of haber, hubo are both equivalent to there was/ there were"

Then it asks you when you use each one. Well since there is/ there was is not an action verb(so you can't think is this a completed action, action in progress, etc), and you can't use the "was working"/"worked" trick, I don't know when to use each one. My textbook has a few activities with answers in it and here are some of the questions/answers. A nice explanation would greatly be appriciated!

1. Anoche __ una cena especial en casa de Pablo cuando yo llegué del centro. (answer: había)
2. El lunespasado ___ una cena en la casa de mis abuelos, pero nadie podía ir. (answer: hubo)
3. El mes pasado no ___ ninguna cena especial en la casa de Alfonso (answer: hubo)
4. El mes pasado ___ dos cenas especiales en la casa de Alfonso (answer: hubo)

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

1. Anoche __ una cena especial en casa de Pablo cuando yo llegué del centro. (answer: había)

If the dinner was taking place when you arrived, imperfect makes more sense. With preterite it means the the dinner finished just when you arrived.

1. El lunespasado ___ una cena en la casa de mis abuelos, pero nadie podía ir. (answer: hubo)

I disagree with your textbook. As a native I can assure you that "había" also makes perfect sense. As a matter of fact, I'd say "hubo una cena" and "nadie pudo ir", but all combinations make sense... depending on how you want to tell the story.

1. El mes pasado no ___ ninguna cena especial en la casa de Alfonso (answer: hubo)

Another load of garbage. Both are correct depending on the context. "Hubo" is more likely to be the choice in most contexts, I guess, but I have no problem imagining "había" in that sentence and making perfect sense. Textbooks come up with rules that are not real rules, and then the exercises are about applying the rules, regardless of how natives speak. I wouldn't call that a rule.

1. El mes pasado ___ dos cenas especiales en la casa de Alfonso (answer: hubo)

Again, while "hubo" is the most likely default option, "había" can be perfectly used with the right context. If you assume that we just want to mention the dinners as finished events, then "hubo" is the right choice. But what happens if you don't want to see them as completed events from a past perspective?

Answer 2

It is the same as the difference between the preterite and the imperfect for all other verbs. If it's a specific event in the past that is completed, it is the preterite. If it is setting the scene for something to happen in the past, is something habitual, or has no sense of starting or ending, it is the imperfect. Hubo is an event, había is a situation.