Different forms of 'hay'?

Question

If 'hay' as in 'Hay una bandera en cada sala de clase' is a form of haber, then are there different forms of it? I've seen 'hay' used for singular and plural things, like 'Hay tres profesores de inglés en mi escuela'. But are there past forms of 'hay'? For example, if I want to say there WERE three rabbits in the garden (but they're gone now), can I still say 'hay tres conejos en tu jardín' or is there a different highly irregular form of haber that I would use? (although isn't every form of haber highly irregular?) Are there any other things about this that I should know? Please help!

good post - billygoat, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 1

Yes, "hay" is a conjugation of the verb "haber." This word is extremely useful and fairly irregular so learn it as much as you can! They have the full conjugation in the dictionary definition, so you can see all the different irregular forms like "hubo (preterite)/habrá (future)" and things like that.

So there are no other additional forms of haber apart from the normal conjugated ones? Thanks! (I've been using hay for a few years now, and didn't realize until just a few minutes ago that it was a conjugated verb!) - bailarina95, Aug 19, 2011

Well they are all conjugated forms, it's just that they're fairly irregular so some of them look like different words. For example haya :P You're welcome! They're great words to know. - unMica, Aug 19, 2011

The only conjugation is 3rd person, singular (in any tense or mood) for impersonal haber and some tenses are irregular (like the present tense indic. & subj). - 0074b507, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 2

Hay is the only odd one, I think. The rest of the tenses use normal conjugations of haber.

Basically, in Spanish one is literally saying "it has" where we say "there is/are." That's why you use the same form of the verb for both singular and plural. German, uses "give" for this purpose. They say "it gives" where we say "there is / are."

So in Spanish, there is this mysterious "it" that has everything. In German, there's this mysterious "it" that gives everything. In English, there's this mysterious place where everything is.

Tense	Original Spanish	Literal Translation	Smooth Translation
Present	Hay tres conejos aquí.	It has three rabbits here.	There are three rabbits here.
Imperfect	Había tres conejos aquí.	It was having three rabbits here.	There were three rabbits here.
Preterite	Hubo tres conejos aquí.	It had three rabbits here.	There were three rabbits here.
Future	Habrá tres conejos aquí.	It will have three rabbits here.	There will be three rabbits here.
Present Subjunctive	Espero que haya tres conejos aquí.	I hope it have three rabbits here.	I hope there are three rabbits here.

hay and haya are both irregular (present tense in indicative and subjunctive moods). - 0074b507, Aug 19, 2011

And then there is the "he" that pops up on rare occasions. - 0074b507, Aug 19, 2011

Only 3rd person singular present has a special form for this "existence" usage of haber. The verb itself is irregular, however. - webdunce, Aug 19, 2011

Yeah, I forgot about he aquí. - webdunce, Aug 19, 2011

great post! thank you webdune, thats really useful - billygoat, Aug 19, 2011

This is a really nice answer, Webdunce! - MLucie, Aug 19, 2011

Answer 3

impersonal haber

Answer 4

've seen 'hay' used for singular and plural things, like 'Hay tres profesores de inglés en mi escuela'.

"Hay" is only used for a kind of construction called impersonal in Spanish, where the verb is always singular and there is no grammatical subject. There is nothing like that in English, as far as I know.

But are there past forms of 'hay'?

"Hay" is an exclusive present impersonal form for "haber", but in other tenses you just use the third person in singular (see webdunce's table).