Haber - to have

[Stu]

In English the verb "to have" is used as in Spanish haber as an auxiliary verb, but also in the sense of ownership and additionally, as an obligation.
I have been told that in Spanish haber is never used in the sense of ownership but I often see it used not as an auxiliary but more in the sense of ownership.
eg in these examples from Ana María Matute

Porque había algo allí, en el sol, en las flores y en todos las hojas ....

No había la más pequeña brisa.

Is it fair to say that haber is sometimes used in the sense "to have"?

[Rusty]

The English auxiliary 'have' is used to form the compound tenses (also known as the perfect tenses).
The English 'to have' is translated into Spanish as 'tener', and a couple of other verbs, but not 'haber'.

The Spanish auxiliary 'haber' is used to form the compound tenses.
The verb 'haber' is mostly used in an impersonal way and can often be translated as 'there is/are/was/were/etc.'.

Your sentences can be translated something like:

Because there was something there, in the sun...
There wasn't even a hint of breeze.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Rusty beat me to post an answer, but I guess one more answer won't harm.


No, it never means "to possess".

"Había algo ahí" and "no había la más pequeña brisa" are impersonal forms to say something existed. Neither the "something" nor the "breeze" were possessed by any subject.

The impersonal conjugation of "haber", which has in present a distinctive conjugation --"hay", means "there is"/"there are"; in this case, "there was (not)"


- En este foro hay buenas personas.
In this forum there are good people.

- Hay una araña en la pared.
There is a spider on the wall.

- Hay un niño gritando afuera.
There is a child screaming outside.

- ¿Hay buenos libros en tu biblioteca?
Are there good books in your library?

- No había la menor duda de que estábamos perdidos.
There was no doubt that we were lost.

- Había una luna brillante en el cielo cuando desperté.
There was a bright moon in the sky when I woke up.

- ¿Hubo muchos invitados en tu boda?
Were there many people invited to your wedding?

- ¿Crees que habrá clases mañana? Está nevando muy fuerte.
Do you think there will be class tomorrow? It's snowing very hard.

- Habría más escuelas si los políticos gastaran menos dinero en guerras.
There would be more schools if politicians spent less money in wars.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

Rusty beat me to post an answer, but I guess one more answer won't harm.


No, it never means "to possess".

"Había algo ahí" and "no había la más pequeña brisa" are impersonal forms to say something existed. Neither the "something" nor the "breeze" were possessed by any subject.

The impersonal conjugation of "haber", which has in present a distinctive conjugation --"hay", means "there is"/"there are"; in this case, "there was (not)"

.

Gracias

All text books say that haber equates to "to have" but "to have" in English is the infinitive form, and implies possession. "to have" is not used as an auxiliary verb, and the auxiliary function of "have" is only a secondary role for the verb English.
I would argue that it is not correct or helpful to suggest haber equates to "to have" in any meaningful way because in a sense, the auxiliary function of "have" does not have any infinitive.

[Rusty]

Yes, that is why we steered you away from the notion that 'haber' means 'to have'. It doesn't.

[poli]

Stu, haber is sometimes used in the infinitive. Because Spanish is not my native language my example may not be correct, but here goes: es bueno de haber conocido esa persona.
There are other cases when it can be used too. It parallels the auxiliary verb to have in English as is (it's good to have known that person.)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

That's right, Poli. The use of the infinitive as an auxiliary verb depends on the conjugation.

Originally Posted by poli

Es bueno de haber conocido a esa persona.

- Lo condenaron por haber asesinado a un hombre.
He was condemned for having killed a man.

- Me habría gustado haber sido más sensato, pero aposté todo el dinero que tenía.
I would have liked to have been wiser, but I put in a bet all the money I had.

- Debí haber abierto los ojos a tiempo y ver que eras un mentiroso.
I should have opened my eyes on time and see you were a liar.

- Podrías haber tenido más juguetes si hubieras sido un niño bueno este año.
You could have had more toys if you had been a good boy this year.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Yes, that is why we steered you away from the notion that 'haber' means 'to have'. It doesn't.

Thanks,
Can you give me a reasonable interpretation of this - I can read the words and get the idea but I don't find it works well for me.

Hubiera echado dinero de haberlo tenido con tal de quedar bien.

[Stu]

My best guess is
Hubiera echado dinero - is pluperfect - something like "They had been giving money"
haberlo tenido - in this case haber takes on the "to be" meaning rather than the aux function - "it to be had"
con tal - provided
de quedar bien - left well off.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

The sentence says I didn't have enough money to give, so I couldn't give it in order to make a good impression on someone.

I think in English my proposal for translation would be something like: "Had I had the money, I would have thrown it in to come across well."

[Stu]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

The sentence says I didn't have enough money to give, so I couldn't give it in order to make a good impression on someone.

I think in English my proposal for translation would be something like: "Had I had the money, I would have thrown it in to come across well."

Thanks Angelica,

That is good, I misunderstood which character was speaking and changed the context.