Published on October 5, 2023
How to use ‘haber’ vs. ‘tener’ in Spanish
Spanish language learners are often confused about when to use haber vs. tener. Why? Because both of these verbs express ”to have” in Spanish. That said, they are not interchangeable. Each verb is used in specific situations.
Haber (to be/to have) is often used in phrases in which you would say “there is” or “there are” in English. These phrases describe the existence or presence of something.
Tener (to have) is frequently used in Spanish to express possession or a state of being. Tener is used in a larger variety of ways than haber.
If you’re scratching your head over haber vs. tener, don’t worry. Here’s everything you need to know about how and when to use these all-important Spanish verbs.
Here’s a quick overview of the main uses of haber vs. tener:
| Haber | Tener |
| To express the existence or presence of something | To express possession, property or relationships |
| As an auxiliary verb in perfect tenses | To express physical or emotional states of being |
| To express necessity or suggestions | To express an obligation |
Now that you understand the basic difference between haber and tener, let’s look into their individual uses.
Haber is often used in a similar way to the English phrase “there is/are” or “there was/were.” In this usage, haber doesn’t require plural conjugation. It’s always conjugated to the third-person singular (he/she/it):
| Imperfect | Preterite | Present | Future |
| había (there was/were) | hubo (there was/were) | hay (there is/are) | habrá (there will be) |
Haber is the verb used to form the perfect tense. In English, this tense is used for sentences such as, “I have eaten.” In Spanish, the perfect tense has the structure: haber + past participle.
If you’re not familiar with the present perfect yet, you might want to brush up on our guide to the present perfect tense. Some examples of this tense include:
The expression hay que (one must…) is used in Spanish to express impersonal suggestions. While it may sound a bit strange to an English speaker, this is not a peculiarity of the Spanish language. A few other European languages, including French and German, also use impersonal conjugations for similar cases.
Here are some specific situations in which you should use tener instead of haber.
Tener is used the same way we often use “to have” in English:
Tener can also be used to express certain physical or emotional states:
One similarity between haber and tener is that both can be used to express necessity. The phrase tener que (to have to) is used in much the same way as hay que (one must). The only difference is that you must conjugate tener que to match the subject, like so:
The choice between haber and tener is easy based on the situation. The task of picking the correct verb is a lot like verb choices we have discussed before — like ser vs. estar or saber vs. conocer. The good news is that the more time you spend listening to spoken Spanish, the easier it will be to spot which verb you need. With a little practice, you’ll have haber vs. tener straight in no time!
