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SPANISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

haber.

to have; forms the perfect aspect

5 characters2 syllables approx.Español language

Meaning & usage

verb/aˈbeɾ/[aˈβ̞eɾ]

  1. to have; forms the perfect aspect

    auxiliary
    He trabajado muy duro durante este mes.
    Mi hermanito me pidió más chocolate, pero ya le había dado demasiado.

  2. to hold, to possess

    obsolete

  3. to exist; there be; “there is”, “there are” (hay); “there was”, “there were” (hubo/había)

    impersonal
    No hay muchas personas aquí.
    En el cofre había un libro antiguo.

  4. to have to

    dated · formal
    Has de morir feliz.

  5. to be necessary

    Hay que proteger el mundo.

  6. used to denote a past obligation

    Haberla llamado.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti Proto-Italic *haβēō Latin habeō Old Spanish aver Spanish haber Latinised respelling of Old Spanish aver, from Latin habēre, habeō (“have, hold”), probably from Proto-Italic *habēō or *haβēō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”). Cognate with French avoir, Italian avere, Occitan aver, Portuguese haver, Romanian avea, avere, and Sardinian (Campidanese airi, Logudorese àere). The preterite is from metathesis of the Latin perfect habuī > *haubī.

noun/aˈbeɾ/[aˈβ̞eɾ]

  1. asset

    masculine

  2. history

    masculine

  3. credit side

    masculine
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti Proto-Italic *haβēō Latin habeō Old Spanish aver Spanish haber Latinised respelling of Old Spanish aver, from Latin habēre, habeō (“have, hold”), probably from Proto-Italic *habēō or *haβēō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ- (“to grab, take”). Cognate with French avoir, Italian avere, Occitan aver, Portuguese haver, Romanian avea, avere, and Sardinian (Campidanese airi, Logudorese àere). The preterite is from metathesis of the Latin perfect habuī > *haubī.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.