One Line at a Time: Hubo Vs. Había

It used to drive me crazy when I’d see the SAME sentence in the SAME context–except one used “hubo” and the other used “había”. In this video, I explain how that could be.

PLAYLIST: PRETERITE VS. IMPERFECT:

ALL EPISODES OF "ONE LINE AT A TIME":

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[OnTasGüerito]

Love that your'e making videos again. You explain things so clearly :)

[llg]

Great video! I often freak out a little over not-so-clear preterite vs imperfect situations… which i’m finding to be pretty common.

[HackyMoto]

Perfect timing! I was just in a lesson this morning which used hubo and habia and I was wondering when to use one over the other.

[ericbaugher]

Great to see fresh content from you. Hubo and habia are really confusing. This was not a completely new topic for me but the content was very thought provoking.

Another great thing about this video is that it appeals to people on different levels

Those who don't know that there are two different past tenses on Spanish yet can access plenty of good information.

Us more advanced folks can contemplate the mystery of when to use each one.

I gave this video a like. Keep the. Coming.

[TheRealJoseramirez]

Agreed. It drives me crazy as well. A rule of thumb seems to be that unless it's at a specific time or within a clearly defined timescale, it's the imperfect. Does that work do you think?
Btw I really enjoy your videos. Thank you.

[paulaswaim]

Amigo, siempre aprendo mucho en tus videos. Muchísimas gracias por hacerlos. Saludos desde Montana.

[NinaEliseh]

This was great, thank you! Would you be able to create a video on haber used as an aux verb and as an impersonal verb?

[simdhaliwal]

Haber always means to have. It’s just that in English having a person in kitchen is thought of as “there is a person in the kitchen.”
Also “there was no form of stopping them” is actually thought of as “didn’t have no form of stoping them” hence hubo.
I am also learning Spanish. But the reason why I can understand haber like a native speaker would intuitively is because my native language is Punjabi. It’s one of the languages spoken in India. In Punjabi have is used in the same way haber is used. We actually have think of having things or having ways rather than there is or there was.

A dialogue in a Spanish or Punjabi speakers mind is not “there was no form of stopping them” it is “didn’t have no form of stopping them” and hence “hubo no forma….”

P.S. I understand your video is about two different tenses. But still I hope it helps non native Spanish speakers to understand that haber really only means to have.
Also hopefully this will help you in making the video about haber a more complete video.

[bonnieoesch]

This one isn't as confusing to me as "fue/era" when you're talking about impersonal expressions (i.e. "fue importante" or "era imposible"). I even asked a friend who is a native Spanish speaker what the difference was and she couldn't really explain it.

[gregorypowers]

HOLA - Spanish Dude ! ... Pregunta: puedes tú mismo ayudarme, or puedes darme consejos...? Tengo un reto personal de tomar y aprobar el Examen DELE al nivel C2...nececito entre 6 meses y un año mas de estudios al nivel avanzado primero, tal vez un tutór privado hablante nativo? ...yo sé que el nivel C2 es un examen muy difícil... Gracias ! -- :) :)

[johnaronson]

Un video sobretodo de Haber, por favor.