[Tlhingan-hol] Greetings from Maltz

[Ruben Molina]

On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 10:51 PM, David Holt <kenjutsuka at live.com> wrote:
>
> > From: robyn at flyingstart.ca
> > I haven't worked with Spanish for too long to remember. Is Hay used for
both
> > singular and plural and if so is there a technically more correct way
to say
> > it?
>
> "Hay" is used for both plural and singular, but is a special conjugation.
It is not a normal conjugation of the verb "haber" and for other uses of
that verb it is normally conjugated as "ha" in the third person singular
present and "han" in the third person plural present.  However, when using
other tenses, the regular third person singular of that conjugation is used
for both the singular and the plural ("Habrá problemas." "There will be
problems.")  There is no more formal or correct way to say it, though in
some areas the plural form ("Habrán problemas.") is also considered
acceptable.
>

Actually, there is a "correct" way to say it.  After all, there is an
institution
responsible for regulating the Spanish language.

The *impersonal* form of "haber" is: [verb conjugated by tense (singular
number, indicative case)]  + [noun] (singular or plural number, accusative
case)]. And the conjugations by tense are: "hay" (present tense), "había"
(imperfect past tense), "habrá" (future tense), "hubo" (perfect past
tense).  [cfr. Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (Panhispanic Dictionary of
Doubts), pp. 330-331]

ruben
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