Page Title

The Verb "Haber" versus the Verb "Tener".

Note:For those of you who consider this exercise beneath you, keep in mind that, in certain countries such as the UK, English
grammar is not taught in the primary and secondary schools. Consequently, many people have a great deal of difficulty
understanding English grammar and, to that extent, have any equal or greater difficulty understanding foreign grammar.

Each of these verbs means "to have". But, they are VERY different. Using them in the wrong way can make
you look a little silly, so let´s explore, first, how they are alike, and, secondly, how they are different.

1. The are alike in that they both TRANSLATE into English as "to have". That´s it. There the similarities end.

2. The are different in that they are used as follows:

a.)

Haber

-- this is the auxiliary or helping verb which in English would be translated as

to have

and which is used in Spanish

only

to create the perfect tenses.

I t is NEVER

used to mean "

have

" in the sense of possession, e.g., "

I have a pencil

". So, let´s first look at

what the perfect

tenses are and how "

to have

" in English or "

haber

" in Spanish are used in the

creation of th

e perfect

tenses.

To have

," the auxiliary verb in English, is always used in conjunction with a past participle of

another verb to form some perfect tense of that second verb.

For example, "

to eat

" in the Present Perfect tense in English would be "

I have eaten

", i.e., the

auxiliary verb "to have" and the past participle of "to eat" or "

eaten

The perfect tenses are as follows:

     Present Perfect Tense                                                                        Past Perfect Tense
               (indefinite)                                                                                                                        (continuous in the past)

   I have eaten                                                                                                                             I had eaten
     You have eaten                                                                                                                       You had eaten
     He/She/Usted have eaten                                                                                                     He/She/Usted had eaten
     We have eaten                                                                                                                         We had eaten
     You have eaten                                                                                                                       You had eaten
     They (masc/fem) /Ustedes have eaten                                                                              They (masc/fem) /Ustedes had eaten

    Past Anterior Tense                                                                           Future Perfect Tense
       (completed in the past)                                                                                                                  (Future in the Past)

   I had eaten                                                                                                                               I shall have eaten
     You had eaten                                                                                                                         You will have eaten
     He/She/Usted had eaten                                                                                                      He/She/Usted will have eaten
     We had eaten                                                                                                                          We shall have eaten
     You had eaten                                                                                                                         You will have eaten
     They (masc/fem) /Ustedes had eaten                                                                               They (masc/fem) /Ustedes will have eaten

   Conditional Perfect Tense                                                                Past Subjunctive Tense

   I would have eaten                                                                                                                that I may have eaten
     You would have eaten                                                                                                          that You may have eaten
     He/She/Usted would have eaten                                                                                        that He/She/Usted may have eaten
     We would have eaten                                                                                                           that We may have eaten
     You would have eaten                                                                                                          that You may have eaten
     They (masc/vem) /Ustedes would have eaten                                                                that They (masc/fem) /Uds. may have eaten


                                                                 Past Perfect Subjunctive Tense

                                                                  that I might have eaten
                                                                                       that You might have eaten
                                                                                       that He/She/Usted might have eaten
                                                                                       that We might have eaten
                                                                                       that You might have eaten
                                                                                       that They (masc/fem) /Ustedes might have eaten

Haber conjugates in the perfect tenses (shown with their English labels) as follows:

    Present Perfect Tense                Past Perfect Tense                  Past Anterior Tense
                  (indefinite)                                                (continuous in the past)                              (completed in the past)

     He                                                        Habia                                        Hube
     Has                                                      Habías                                      Hubiste
     Ha                                                        Había                                        Hubo
     Hemos                                                 Habíamos                                  Hubimos
     Habeís                                                 Habiais                                      Hubisteis
     Han                                                      Habian                                      Hubieron

     Future Perfect Tense                Conditional Perfect Tense        Past Subjuntive Tense
              (future in the past)

     Habré                                                   Habría                                       Haya
     Habrás                                                 Habrías                                      Hayas
     Habrá                                                   Habría                                        Haya
     Habremos                                             Habríamos                                 Hayamos
     Habréis                                                 Habríais                                     Hayáis
     Habrán                                                 Habrían                                      Hayan

                                                Past Perfect Subjunctive Tense

                                                                 Hubiera
                                                                 Hubieras
                                                                 Hubiera
                                                                 Hubieramos
                                                                 Hubierais
                                                                 Hubieran

These verb conjugations of "haber" correspond to the "have", "had", "had", "will have", "would have", "may
have", "might have" in the English above.

To these forms of "haber" one adds the past participle of the second verb. As in our example above, the past
participle is "eaten".

In English, we add "-ed" or "-en" or "-ne" to the end of a verb (dropping the infinitive prefix "to") to arrive at the
past participle, as in "to celebrate/celebrated", "to eat/eaten", or "to go/gone".

In Spanish, we drop the "-ar", "-ir", or "-er" ending of the infinitive of the verb and replace it with "-ado", for
verbs ending with "-ar", and with "-ido" for verbs ending with "-er" or "-ir".

So, in the Past Indefinite, we would have, as in our English example, the following:

              He comido
              Has comido
              Ha comido
              Hemos comido
              Habéis comido
              Han comido

and so on, through each of the tenses, changing the conjugation ONLY of "haber" according to the tense were
using, the past participle remaining the same throughout, as in English above, "eaten".

The main point to remember is that "haber" may translate inot English as "have", but it´s ONLY a helping verb
(auxiliary verb) to be used in forming the perfect tenses. Nothing else!

             b.) The verb "tener" means to have in the sense of possessing something. It also used, as in English,
to express obligation imposed on one from external sources, e.g., ¨¨I have to go to the bank today.

      Examples:

              I have a pencil.                  Tengo lápiz.                                NEVER: He lápiz.

              I am in a hurry.                  Tengo prisa.                                NEVER: He prisa.

              I have the money.              Tengo el dinero.                          NEVER: He dinero.

              You have my book.            Tienes mi libro.                            NEVER: Has mi libro.

              We have to go.                  Tenemos que ir.                          NEVER:   Hemos que ir.

The uses of "tener" are identical to English, EXCEPT with respect to the formation of the Perfect Tenses.

This Micro Class was by special request of one of my students. If you have a special request for a Micro Class,
please let me know. We try to accomodate special requests.