habian, when and how is it used, instead of habia

Question

When and how is "habian" used?

Accepted Answer

Hola Michael
As Clara said, when we use "había" as the impersonal form of haber for "there was/there were" we just use that only form, but we also use the verb haber for compound tenses (like in English "I have been, I had gone...). The whole conjugation of haber in El Imperfecto (había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían) is used to form "El Pluscuamperfecto" (Pluperfect tense: I had gone, you had gone, he had gone...). Here is a lesson on this topic. Have a look. I hope this clarifies it for you.
Saludos
Inma

Answer

Hi Michael,

Hopefully this link to the lesson re. había will help:

"There was"/"there were" in Spanish: había

Within this lesson note especially:

GRAMMAR: Había is an impersonal form that comes from the third person of the verb haber in El Pretérito Imperfecto. It literally means it had.

The conjugations for the verb Haber in the Pretérito Imperfecto are:

Yo---- había

Tu----habías

Él/Ella/Usted----había

Nosotros----habíamos

Vosotros----habíais

Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes----habían

So, 'habían', that you mention in your question, is the 3rd person plural.

I hope this helps a little. I'm sure the amazing Inma will add to this if I haven't explained it well enough for you. :)