Había/Hubo?

Question

If i was going to start out with a fairy-tale-esque beginning to a story such as "once upon a time" would i use "Había una vez" or "Hubo una vez". I'm not really sure which to use mainly because una vez means one time and should signal preterit, right? But, I seem to recall hearing Había una vex before which makes me think it might be that.

Answer 1

The time is a situation rather than an event, so it is in the imperfect. I would say "Érase una vez. . ."

oh, so it has to do with setting up the scene, no wonder. Thank you :) - DavidRyan, Sep 2, 2011

Answer 2

Comúmente se traduce como "Había una vez"

"Once upon a time" is like "había una vez" in spanish, that must be the more similar translation.

Answer 3

However, if you are talking about past events, nothing stop you from starting with "Hubo una vez..."

Answer 4

Our phrasebook has this entry:

once upon a time / había una vez /érase una vez

Answer 5

If I were to say " once upon a time" I would use " había una vez".

I get teased about this because I use it more than i should.