Introduction
This
post is about the practical use of impersonal verbs in general
and more particularly the verb “haber” when used
in expressions of need.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You appear to
be in a situation in which one ore more things must be done. The
other person is trying to establish what has to be done and says to
you something like: "tell me, what needs to be done?".
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:
Dime,
¿qué hay que hacer?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:
Dígame,
¿qué hay que hacer?
OUR
TIP
The
question is an invitation for you to say what needs to be done. When
stating what needs to be done, you may
need
to consider different levels of formality in your reply.
This would be specifically if you were to indicate who needs to do
it**. However, the question is asked in an 'impersonal' way which is
not concerned with identifying who needs to do things. For that
reason, answers could be formulated in a similarly 'impersonal' way.
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
- Hay que* hacer muchas cosas (there are lots of things to do);
- No hay que* hacer nada (there is nothing to do);
- Hay que* hacer la compra (the shopping must be done);
- Hay que* conducir con precaución (careful driving is what is needed);
Now you should
practise replying to someone who says to you:
Dime, ¿qué hay que hacer?
*Please
see grammar topic below, impersonal verbs - “haber”
(What Needs To Be Done)
**
See also post on the INFINITIVE (haber de....)
**See also post on the INFINITIVE (haber que....)
Impersonal
Verbs
We
refer here to verbs which normally do not have a subject. In English
these verbs are usually preceded by the pronoun “it”, as in “it
rains”. It should be noted that the English pronoun “it” does
not refer to anything and should not be translated into
Spanish, where only
the 3rd
person singular should be used.
On
the subject of impersonal verbs, some discreet groups of verbs come
to mind. These are:
In this group we
include verbs used in the context of describing weather conditions.
We refer to verbs such as:
- Llover (to rain);
- Nevar (to snow);
- Helar (to freeze/ to be frosty);
- Tronar (to thunder);
- Relampaguear (to lighten);
Some
examples of the use of these impersonal
verbs are:
- Llueve (it rains);
- Nieva (it snows);
- Hiela (it is frosty/ it freezes);
- Truena (there is thunder);
- Relampaguea (there is lightening);
- Llovió (it rained);
- Nevó (it snowed);
- Heló (it was frosty/ it froze);
- Tronó (there was thunder);
- Relampagueó (there was lightening);
- Va a llover (it is going to rain);
- Va a nevar (it is going to snow);
- Etc.
The
Spanish verb “hacer”
is often used as an impersonal verb in weather expressions/ to
describe the weather.
Some
examples of the use of “hacer”
as an impersonal
verb
in weather
expressions
are:
- Hace calor (it is hot);
- Hace frío (it is cold);
- Hace sol (it is sunny);
- Hace viento (it is windy);
- Hizo calor (it was hot);
- Hizo frío (it was cold);
- Hizo sol (it was sunny);
- Hizo viento (it was windy);
- Hacía calor (it was hot);
- Hacía frío (it was cold);
- Hacía sol (it was sunny);
- Hacía viento (it was windy);
- Va a hacer frío (it is going to be cold);
- Va a hacer sol (it is going to be sunny);
- Etc.
The
Spanish verb “hacer”
is often used as an impersonal verb in time
expressions.
When used in this way, two types of expressions with slightly
different meanings should be considered:
- Expressions which indicate how 'long ago' something happened. Some examples of this type of time expressions are:
- Hace dos años estuve en Madrid (I was in Madrid two years ago);
- Llegamos hace sólo una hora (we arrived just one hour ago);
- Hacía dos años había estado en Madrid (I had been in Madrid two years before);
- Habíamos llegado hacía sólo una hora (we had arrived just one hour before);
- Expressions which indicate the duration of an activity. In this type of expressions, “hace” is preceded by “desde”. Some examples of this type of time expressions are:
- Estudio español desde hace* dos años (I have been studying Spanish for these last two years);
- Estoy en casa desde hace* una hora (I have been at home for the last hour);
- Estudiaba español desde hacía dos años (I had been studying Spanish for the previous two years);
- Estaba en casa desde hacía una hora (I had been at home for the previous hour);
Notes
*The use of the present tense indicates that the action is ongoing/ still going on.
The
Spanish verb “haber”
is also often used as an impersonal verb in weather
expressions.
Some
examples of the use of “haber”
as an impersonal
verb
in weather
expressions
are:
- Hay helada (it is frosty);
- Hay niebla (it is foggy);
- Hay luna (the moon is out);
- Hay lluvia (it is rainy);
- Hay neblina (it is misty);
- Hay nubes (it is cloudy);
- Hay sol (it is sunny/ the sun is out);
- Hay tormenta (it is stormy);
- Había helada (it was frosty);
- Había niebla (it was foggy);
- Había luna (the moon was out);
- Había lluvia (it was rainy);
- Había neblina (it was misty);
- Había nubes (it was cloudy);
- Había sol (it was sunny/ the sun was out);
- Había tormenta (it was stormy);
The
Spanish verb “haber”
is also used as an impersonal verb. The combination haber
que
+ infinitive is
used
to indicate what is needed or advisable.
Some
examples of the use of “haber”
as an impersonal
verb
in this way are:
- Hay que decir la verdad (you* need to tell the truth);
- Había que decir la verdad (you* needed to tell the truth);
- Hubo que decir la verdad (you* needed to tell the truth);
- Habrá que decir la verdad (you* will need to tell the truth);
- Habría que decir la verdad (you* should need to tell the truth);
Notes
*These are expressions without a specific subject. In English 'you' is commonly used as a subject, even if it doesn't mean literally 'you' but 'someone'. It is these situations, when 'you' is used to mean nobody specifically that the combination haber que + infinitive is commonly used.
The
Spanish verb “haber”
is also often used as an impersonal verb in expressions such as:
- There is/ there are
- There was/ there were
- There will be
- Etc.
Some
examples of the use of “haber”
as an impersonal
verb
in expressions
of this type
are:
- Hay mucho que hacer (there is a lot to do);
- Hay muchas personas (there are many people);
- Había mucho que hacer (there was a lot to do);
- Había muchas personas (there were many people);
- Habrá mucho que hacer (there will be a lot to do);
- Habrá muchas personas (there will be many people);
Now
you should practise the use of the impersonal verbs with some
examples of your own.
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