There used to be... vs There was...

Question

Hi. As I have been learning the difference between imperfecto and indefinido, I have come to understand that imperfecto could be expressed as "used to " and indefinido as "-ed". So comer would be comia hongos (I used to eat mushrooms, imperfecto) or comi (I ate mushrooms, indefinido).

This description of habia vs hubo seems to be the opposite: habia (imperfecto) is what I would think of as "There used to be... ", whereas hubo (indefinido) would be "There was". So I would think it'd be something like this:

Habia muchos ninos en el parque - shouldn't this be like "There used to be a lot of kids at the park"? Definately a completed thing.

Hubo muchos ninos en el parque - shouldn't this be like "There were a lot of kids at the park"? Who knows if it's a completed thing.

But this lesson has it backwards, like "Habia" is - "There were..." and "Hubo" is "There used to be..."

So I'm confused. I'm understanding the completed actions vs incomplete actions, but this lesson feels backwards. Can you please help me understand where I have it wrong? I've read many of your responses, and I'm not understanding where I'm off.

Thanks.

Jeff

Silvia Piriz · Answer

Hola Jeff G.
It’s great to see you engaging so deeply with the difference between the imperfecto and indefinido.
You're on the right track in understanding that había (imperfecto) is used for background, ongoing, or habitual situations in the past — so it corresponds well to "there used to be".
In contrast, hubo (indefinido) is used to mark specific, completed events and translates more naturally as "there was" or "there were" (at a particular time).
For example, había muchos niños en el parque describes a general scene or background, the kids were there regularly or over a period, while hubo muchos niños en el parque refers to a specific event, like a party or a one-time occurrence. So the lesson isn’t backwards, it's reflecting this nuance in how Spanish differentiates background states from completed events more clearly than English does.
Keep going, your analysis shows strong intuition and this distinction will become more intuitive with practice.
Hope this helps clarify things!
Saludos
Silvia