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Looking at how ‘haber’ is used with the present subjunctive tense. Formation rules and in what situations it may be used. |
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Looking at how ‘haber’ is used with the past subjunctive tense and with ‘if statements’. |
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How and when ‘haber’ is used with the conditional tense (would have). Conjugation patterns. |
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How and when ‘haber’ is used with ‘could’ and ‘should’. Conjugation patterns. |
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Deciding which tense to use with ‘haber’, the conditional or the subjunctive! |
| What you can learn from this lesson | |
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Understanding how the verb ‘haber’ is used to express or talk about certain situations that occur both in the conditional and subjunctive tenses. |
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Being able to correctly form sentences in the conditional and subjunctive tenses when using ‘haber’. Understanding when ‘haber’ should be used in its base form and when stem and ending changes occur. |
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Knowing how to correctly conjugate the verb ‘haber’ in the present and past subjunctive tenses and the conditional tenses with would, could and should. Recognising formation patterns. |
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Understanding how the conditional and subjunctive tenses are used in comparison to how they may be used in English. |
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Knowing in what situations the conditional and subjunctive tenses with ‘haber’ may be used to express the same meaning. |
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An appreciation of the formation rules that are sometimes used with ‘haber’ and the past subjunctive tense in older style Spanish texts. |
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PART 1
This first part of the lesson looks at how the auxiliary verb ‘haber’ is used in conjunction with the present subjunctive tense. For a general understanding of how the verb ‘haber’ is used to form other tenses take a look at the lesson on the perfect tenses. This lesson concentrates on how the verb ‘haber’ is used in more complex sentence structures.
In this lesson different formations of ‘haber’ are illustrated by using regular verb examples. Again to understand how irregular verbs are formed with ‘haber’ take a look at the lesson on the perfect tenses.
The present subjunctive tense with ‘haber’
The following example uses three regular verbs to illustrate how ‘haber’ is formed with the present subjunctive tense.
| personal pronoun | haber | besar | comer | vivir |
| (to have) | (to kiss) | (to eat) | (to live) | |
| yo | haya | besado | comido | vivido |
| tú | hayas | besado | comido | vivido |
| él/ella/usted | haya | besado | comido | vivido |
| nosotros/nosotras | hayamos | besado | comido | vivido |
| vosotros/vosotras | hayáis | besado | comido | vivido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hayan | besado | comido | vivido |
When the present subjunctive tense with ‘haber’ is used
1) In the same types of sentences and situations where the present subjunctive tense might be used. Where a sentence has two different verbs and two different subjects and the first verb in the sentence is in either the present simple, future or imperative tense.
No creo que ellos
hayan terminado todavía. - I don't think they have
finished yet.
Me alegro que
ella haya pasado el examen. - I’m happy that she passed
the exam.
Él vendrá después
de que yo haya salido. - He will
come after I have left.
Espera hasta que ellos hayan regresado. - Wait until they have come back.
2) As with the present subjunctive tense, ‘haber’ is sometimes used in sentences with the word cuando.
Cuando (tú) hayas
terminado. - When you have
finished.
Cuando ellos hayan regresado. - When they have come back.
PART 2
The second part of the lesson looks at how ‘haber’ is used with the past subjunctive tense. ‘Haber’ is usually used with the past subjunctive tense more frequently than it is used with the present subjunctive tense.
If you have studied the lesson on the past subjunctive tense you will know there are two ways of forming the tense. The same is true of the past subjunctive tense with ‘haber’. The first method of formation illustrated below is the most common. The second method may still be used however, especially in some older texts.
Formation method 1
| personal pronoun | haber | besar | comer | vivir |
| (to have) | (to kiss) | (to eat) | (to live) | |
| yo | hubiera | besado | comido | vivido |
| tú | hubieras | besado | comido | vivido |
| él/ella/usted | hubiera | besado | comido | vivido |
| nosotros/nosotras | hubiéramos | besado | comido | vivido |
| vosotros/vosotras | hubierais | besado | comido | vivido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hubieran | besado | comido | vivido |
Formation method 2
| personal pronoun | haber | besar | comer | vivir |
| (to have) | (to kiss) | (to eat) | (to live) | |
| yo | hubiese | besado | comido | vivido |
| tú | hubieses | besado | comido | vivido |
| él/ella/usted | hubiese | besado | comido | vivido |
| nosotros/nosotras | hubiésemos | besado | comido | vivido |
| vosotros/vosotras | hubieseis | besado | comido | vivido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | hubiesen | besado | comido | vivido |
When the past subjunctive tense with ‘haber’ is used.
1) One of the most common ways in which ‘haber’ is used with the past subjunctive tense is with ‘if’ statements that convey hypothetical situations in the past.
Si él hubiera
mirado diez segundos más temprano estaría vivo ahora.
If he were to have looked ten seconds earlier he would be
alive now.
Si hubiéramos
sabido acerca de las condiciónes no habríamos ido.
If we had know about the conditions we wouldn’t have gone.
2) It is also possible for ‘haber’ to be used in hypothetical sentences in the past that are not ‘if’ statements.
Ellos hubieran
sido los primeros concursantes para estar en el programa.
They were to have been the first contestants to appear on the program.
The past subjunctive tense is often used interchangeably with the conditional tense with ‘would’ and ‘haber’ (would have). This is looked at in part five of the lesson.
PART 3
The third part of this lesson looks at how ‘haber’ is used with the conditional tense ‘would’. The formation of ‘haber’ in this way is as follows:
| personal pronoun | haber | besar | comer | vivir |
| (to have) | (to kiss) | (to eat) | (to live) | |
| yo | habría | besado | comido | vivido |
| tú | habrías | besado | comido | vivido |
| él/ella/usted | habría | besado | comido | vivido |
| nosotros/nosotras | habríamos | besado | comido | vivido |
| vosotros/vosotras | habriáis | besado | comido | vivido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | habrían | besado | comido | vivido |
When the conditional tense with ‘would’ is used with ‘haber’
The conditional tense with ‘would’ and ‘haber’ is used in a similar way that you might expect it to be used in English.
Yo le habría
besado pero se salió. - I
would have kissed him but he left.
Él lo habría comido peroestuvo lleno. - He would have eaten it but he was full.
Ellos habrían dicho si. - They would have said yes.
Often the use of ‘haber’ and the conditional tense ‘would’ is interchangeable with the use of the past subjunctive tense and ‘haber’. This is looked at in part five of the lesson.
PART 4
Part four of the lesson looks at how ‘haber’ is used with the conditional tenses ‘could’ and ‘should’. The way ‘haber’ is used with ‘could’ and ‘should’ is a little different to the formations we have looked at so far. In these situations the formation of ‘haber’ does not change. It is always the formation of ‘could’ or ‘should’ that changes.
The important thing to remember when forming sentences with ‘haber’ and ‘could’ and ‘should’ is that one of these conditional tenses will always go before ‘haber’ in its infinitive form.
| CONDITIONAL TENSE + HABER + VERB + PAST PARTICIPLE |
The following examples show the various formations of ‘could’ and ‘should’ with ‘haber’ when using the verb ‘comer’ (to eat).
Could
| personal pronoun | poder | haber | verb + past |
| (to be able) | (to have) | participle | |
| yo | podría | haber | comido |
| tú | podrías | haber | comido |
| él/ella/usted | podría | haber | comido |
| nosotros/nosotras | podríamos | haber | comido |
| vosotros/vosotras | podríais | haber | comido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | podrían | haber | comido |
Should
| personal pronoun | deber | haber | verb + past |
| (to owe/owe a duty to | (to have) | participle | |
| yo | debería | haber | comido |
| tú | deberías | haber | comido |
| él/ella/usted | debería | haber | comido |
| nosotros/nosotras | deberíamos | haber | comido |
| vosotros/vosotras | deberíais | haber | comido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | deberían | haber | comido |
Yo podría
haber comido. - I could have eaten.
Yo debería
haber comido. - I should have eaten.
PART 5
The final part of this lesson looks at when the past subjunctive tense with ‘haber’ or the conditional tense with ‘would’ and ‘haber’ can be used interchangeably. Whether or not these two forms should be used interchangeably is actually a subject of debate amongst academics. Most people agree that such a usage is grammatically wrong and reflects a degeneration of the Spanish language, but many people who speak the Spanish language still use it.
Here are some examples of how ‘haber’ in the conditional and subjunctive tenses might be used interchangeably.
Que país (tú) hubieras
visitado primero si fueras él? - less correct
Que país (tú) habrías
visitado primero si fueras él? - more
correct
What country would you have visited first if you were him?
Si yo la hubiera
visto antes yo hubiera dicho algo. - less correct
Si yo la hubiera
visto antes yo habría dicho algo. - more
correct
If I had seen her before I would have said something.
From the above examples you might notice that the interchangeability occurs when the conditional tense is replaced with the subjunctive tense rather than the other way around.
Our advise on this matter is as follows:
1) Do not use the conditional tense with ‘haber’ instead of using the past subjunctive tense with ‘haber’ where the past subjunctive tense is the obvious grammatical choice.
Solamente si yo hubiera
ganado la lotería. - correct
Only if I were to have won the lottery.
Solamente si yo habría ganado
la lotería - incorrect
Only if I would have won the lottery!!!!
2) Make your own choice about whether you want to replace the conditional tense with ‘haber’ with the past subjunctive tense with ‘haber’. In today’s modern Spanish language it is really a matter of personal preference.
Si yo hubiera
ganado yo lo habría comprado. - correct
If I were to have won I would have bought it.
Si yo hubiera
ganado yo lo hubiera comprado. - correct
If I were to have won I would have bought it.
That concludes this lesson on ‘haber’
with the conditional and subjunctive tenses. If you have not done so already
watch the actual video for this lesson and then try one of the associated
quizzes to test your understanding.
