'There have been'

Question

How would I say, 'there have been', as in 'throughout history, there have been'...?

I'm slightly confused.

Can someone explain it to me?

Thanks.

Answer 1

ha habido.

The thing to remember is you're using the 'impersonal' haber, not the 'auxillary' haber. In the present tense you would use 'hay = there is, are'. In the present perfect 'There have/has been' = ha habido. Of course, I could be wrong.

You are right :) - cogumela, Oct 11, 2011

Gracias cogomela :~) - Jack-OBrien, Oct 11, 2011

...Nice :) - GuitarWarrior, Oct 11, 2011

Answer 2

There have been and also there has been is the same thing in Spanish and it is as mentioned, the present perfect, ha habido.

For those interested here are a few more using haber impersonally.

Habiendo - There being

Habido - There having been

Haya - Let there be, may there be

Había - There was, there were

Hubo - There was, there were

Habrá - There will be

Habría - There would be

Había habido - There had been

Hubo habido - There had been

Habrá habido - There will have been

Habría habido - There would have been

There is also the form ha used to denote "ago" in expressions of time, eg,

mucho tiempo ha - A long time ago.

Nice summary! - pesta, Oct 11, 2011

Gracias. - Eddy, Oct 12, 2011

Excelente Eddy. Gracias 1000!!!! - andicar, Dec 20, 2013

Answer 3

So is "There should have been. . ." translated as "Debería haber habido. . ."?

Sí :) - cogumela, Oct 11, 2011

Gracias. - lorenzo9, Oct 11, 2011

Cogu I am surprised by that.... I thought it would be'have been : Debería haber sido - FELIZ77, Oct 11, 2011

I think that would be "It should have been. . ." - lorenzo9, Oct 11, 2011

And that is the conditional past perfect passive voice rather than the impersonal construct. - lorenzo9, Oct 12, 2011

Answer 4

han habido - have been - I am almost 100% sure.

This is the only correct way to say it! - rpem, Oct 11, 2011

Answer 5

Maybe this site can help.

Answer 6

WE have some differing opinions here.

Are "There has been" AND "There have been" both "ha habido" in Spanish or not?

Yes, the impersonal haber is always 3rd person singular. - lorenzo9, Oct 12, 2011

thank you. - ian-hill, Oct 12, 2011

Answer 7

There have been...

Han habido...

Answer 8

"ha habido.

The thing to remember is you're using the 'impersonal' haber, not the 'auxillary' haber. In the present tense you would use 'hay = there is, are'. In the present perfect 'There have/has been' = ha habido. Of course, I could be wrong."

I don't understand, slightly more confused.

Sorry.