"Hay que" in other tenses

Question

I was wondering how the phrase "hay que" would be put into the past tense. Like in this example.

We need to wash the car. "Hay que lavar el coche"

vs.

We had to/were supposed to wash the car. Would it be "Había que lavar el coche"?

And for future tense would "Habra que" be used? I'm just wondering because I've never heard anyone use these before

Excellent question :D - SonrisaDelSol, Nov 10, 2011

Answer 1

So perhaps "We had to..." would be "Habíamos de llavar..."

Expressions using "haber de" are far less common in spoken Spanish than those using "tener que."

We had to wash the car ? Teníamos que lavar el coche

Answer 2

We had to/were supposed to wash the car. Would it be "Había que lavar el coche"?

Where is the WE part?

Try this:

haber de y haber que

15/02/2010

Me gustaría que me resolvieran mi duda sobre el uso de estas construcciones verbales: haber de y haber que.

Ambas indican obligación, pero no se construyen igual. La primera es personal: «He de ir a hacer compras», «Has de limpiarte los dientes».

La segunda es impersonal: «Hay que mirar antes de cruzar la calle».

So perhaps "We had to..." would be "Habíamos de llavar..."

Answer 3

Yes. Había que lavarlo and Habrá que lavarlo would both be possible.

Keep in mind though that the verb haber is used impersonally, so that "Hay que lavar el coche" is more like "The car has to be washed" than "We have to wash the car."