Where does "hay" in Spanish come from?
1
vote
In my spanish class we have suddenly started using hay. Where does this come from?
7318 views
updated Feb 14, 2012
edited by Christopher
posted by Haydnfj
1 Answer
3
votes
It comes from the impersonal use of the verb haber and means something like "there to be", not good English I know, however, some examples which might make it a bit clearer.
Hay - There is/are
Haya - let there be, may there be
habido - there having been
habiendo - there being
había - there was/were (imperfect)
hubo - there was/were (past definite)
habrá - there will be
habría- there would be
ha habido- there has been
había habido - there had been
etc, etc, etc with all the other terms using habido.
I believe there is also a form "ha" used to denote "ago" as in expressions of time, example "mucho tiempo ha" a long time ago.
updated Feb 14, 2012
edited by Eddy
posted by Eddy
I think the second thing your thinking about is actually "hace" for 'hace mucho tiempo' - Himself12794, Feb 14, 2012
