Hubo or Habia when talking about something that can't change?

Question

Ok so if I said "yesterday I went to the mall and there were so many stores!" would I have to use hubo because I mentioned it was during my visit yesterday or habia because the stores never stop being there(in the time I was there at least)? What if I was writing a story about a visit to the mall and mentioned that it occurred yesterday in the beginning and later said "there were so many stores!" ?(probably the same but I'm getting hopeful cause I need more imperfect tense in my essay...)

Hello, welcome to the forum! - rac1, Nov 28, 2012

thank you =) - sugarywolf10, Nov 28, 2012

Answer 1

Había should be used in all of your cases because you are narrating (the imperfect is the ideal tense for that). Also, the stores will continue to be there. The imperfect affords you the possibility of describing an action that took place in the past without putting an end to it.

Even if the stores were to be destroyed by an Act of God, when referring to them, you would have to say: "En el centro comercial que se quemó habían 10 tiendas".

ok thanks, still getting the hang of using imperfect and this helped a bit (in the never ending journey that shall be learning to use past tense). - sugarywolf10, Nov 28, 2012

Espera "habían"? - QFour, Nov 28, 2012

Les pregunté a dos hispanohablantes (de México y de Colombia) [y quizá El Salvador] y los dos [o tres] me dijeron que sí se conjuga "había" así a veces... pero gramaticalmente.. "había" en este contexto no tiene ningún sujeto, sino indica la existencia... - QFour, Nov 28, 2012

al menos lo creo yo... - QFour, Nov 28, 2012

Sí, es así. En este caso 10 tiendas es el Objeto de la oración y no el sujeto, y se trata de una oración impersonal. Debo sincerarme y decir que tuve que buscarlo en los libros de Lengua, pues es un error muy común que producimos los hispanohablantes - Hokuten, Nov 28, 2012

y hubiese hubiese escrito lo mismo que franco - Hokuten, Nov 28, 2012