Learn how to use the verbs haber and estar, which can easily be mixed up at the beginning

1. Locating objects in Spanish
here are two verbs you can use to locate objects (or people) in Spanish: el
verbo estar and el verbo haber. You may already know the verb estar from
this lesson, in which we saw that one of its uses is to express location or
position. Don’t panic, I think you’ll be able to tell the difference between haber and
estar much easier than the troublesome ser/estar. The use is actually quite similar
to the way you’d say it in English, so most of the times you can get away with a
literal translation.
Let’s see how to conjugate them in the present tense.
When do we use each of them?
We use estar to locate a person or an object if the noun is accompanied by a defi-
nite or a possessive article:
Mi hermano está en su habitación – My brother is in his room
Las herramientas están en un cajón – The tools are in a drawer
Los papeles están en el suelo – The papers are on the floor
T
Yo estoy
Tú estás
Él está
Nosotros estamos
Ustedes están
Ellos están
verbo estar
At this point we’re not interested in its full
conjugation (which is used, mainly, as an
auxiliary to conjugate compound tenses).
For the purpose of this lesson, stick with the
impersonal hay, which direct translation in
English would be there is/there are.
verbo haber
Yo he
Tú has
Él ha
Nosotros hemos
Ustedes han
Ellos han
BUT

2. On the other hand, hay is used with nouns that come accompanied by an indefinite
article, no article or certain adverbs:
Hay mucha gente en el supermercado – There is a lot of people in the supermarket
No hay personas interesadas en esto – There aren’t people interested in this
Hay dos baños en la casa – There are two bathrooms in the house
Hay un libro sobre la mesa – There is a book on the table
In the first example the noun comes accompanied by an adverb of quantity
(mucha). In the second one there is no article. In “hay dos baños”, third example,
there is what we call an adverbio numeral. And in the last example the noun
comes with an indefinite article.
But most importantly, have you noticed the equivalence between Estar and the
verb To Be; and Hay and There is/There are?
As an native English speaker, I think this can make your life easier when using
these two verbs.
Time to practise
Let’s see if you can figure out which of these two verbs fit in the following sentences
(find the key on the right hand side).
En la habitación [ ] dos sillones y una mesa
There are two armchairs and a table
hay
¿Dónde [ ] tu padre?
Where is your father?
está
No [ ] nada interesante en la televisión
There is nothing interesting on television
hay
Mi novia [ ] en el parque paseando al perro
My girlfriend is in the park taking the dog for a stroll
está
En la jungla [ ] animales peligrosos
There are dangerous animals in the jungle
hay
En la clase [ ] veinte alumnos
There are twenty students in the classroom
hay
[ ] mucha fruta en el frutero
There is a lot of fruit in the fruit basket
hay
key

3. So hopefully now you’re less likely to mix up these two verbs when it comes to lo-
cate things in Spanish. Keep up with the good job and I hope to see you around in
future lessons.
¡Hasta la próxima clase!
Jose.
El gato [ ] debajo del coche
The cat is under the car
está
¿Cuántos gatos [ ] en esta calle?
How many cats are there in this street?
está
Los vecinos no [ ] en casa
The neighbours aren’t at home
están
[ ] dos baños y los dos [ ] en la planta de arriba
There are two bathrooms and both of them are upstairs
hay
están
[ ] dos tenedores sobre la mesa
There are two forks on the table
hay
Las cucharas [ ] en la mesa también
The spoons are on the table as well
están
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