Present of Haver and Haver-hi | Catalan Grammar

The present of haver appears constantly in Catalan, but it does three different grammatical jobs. It helps form the present perfect (he arribat), appears in the obligation construction haver de (hem de marxar), and combines with hi in the existential hi ha (“there is/there are”). English uses “have” in the first two areas and “there is/are” in the third, so learning the structures—not one translation—is essential.

The present paradigm

As an auxiliary, haver agrees with the subject. The forms are short and irregular:

Person	Present	Present perfect example
jo	he	he arribat
tu	has	has arribat
ell / ella / vostè	ha	ha arribat
nosaltres	hem	hem arribat
vosaltres	heu	heu arribat
ells / elles / vostès	han	han arribat

The written h is silent, and none of these six forms takes a written accent. Do not confuse ha with the preposition a: La Núria ha anat a casa contains auxiliary ha and then preposition a. The forms hem and heu are especially worth memorizing because their stems look unlike the infinitive.

He deixat les claus damunt la taula.

I’ve left the keys on the table.

Has parlat amb la metgessa aquest matí?

Have you spoken to the doctor this morning?

Avui hem dinat molt tard.

We had lunch very late today.

Encara no han contestat el missatge.

They still haven’t replied to the message.

The auxiliary carries person, number, tense, and mood; the participle contributes the lexical event. Thus hem dinat is first-person plural and indicative because of hem, while dinat does not change to agree with the subject. The present perfect presents a completed event as connected to the current discourse period—avui, aquesta setmana, “so far,” or a result relevant now. Regional preferences between the present perfect and past forms deserve their own treatment on the present perfect uses page.

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English “have” is not a reliable guide to Catalan haver. Possession uses tenir: Tinc un cotxe, not he un cotxe. Auxiliary haver must be followed by a participle: he comprat.

Weak pronouns go before the finite auxiliary

With a finite compound tense, an object or locative weak pronoun normally precedes haver. It does not go between the auxiliary and participle.

Aquest llibre ja l'he llegit, però te'l puc deixar.

I’ve already read this book, but I can lend it to you.

A Girona, hi hem anat moltes vegades.

We’ve been to Girona many times.

The sequence hi ha therefore has two possible analyses. In Hi ha pa, the whole construction is existential. In Hi ha anat, hi means “there” and ha anat is a third-person present perfect:

Hi ha pa fresc a la cuina.

There is fresh bread in the kitchen.

La Mariona hi ha anat amb autobús.

Mariona has gone there by bus.

The following word resolves the apparent ambiguity: a noun phrase after hi ha is typically what exists, whereas a participle such as anat signals the perfect auxiliary.

Existential hi ha does not agree

Standard hi ha presents something as existing or being available. Unlike English “there is/there are,” formal standard Catalan keeps the verb in the third-person singular whether the following noun phrase is singular or plural. That noun phrase is not an ordinary agreeing subject; it is the entity introduced into the discourse.

Hi ha una farmàcia oberta a prop d'aquí.

There’s a pharmacy open near here.

Hi ha dues places lliures al costat de la finestra.

There are two free seats next to the window.

No hi ha prou temps per fer-ho avui.

There isn’t enough time to do it today.

To replace an indefinite noun or a quantity already mentioned, add partitive en. The resulting order is n'hi ha, never hi n'ha:

—Queden entrades? —Sí, encara n'hi ha quatre.

—Are there any tickets left? —Yes, there are still four.

De cafè, no n'hi ha gens; n'hem de comprar.

There’s no coffee at all; we need to buy some.

Here the first n' is partitive and hi belongs to the existential construction. In n'hem de comprar, by contrast, en is the only weak pronoun and hem de comprar expresses obligation.

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Think of hi ha as one presentational unit, not as ha agreeing with the noun after it. The number contrast appears in una farmàcia / dues farmàcies, not in the verb.

Regional and register notes

The non-agreeing form hi ha is the consolidated (formal) IEC/AVL solution. Forms such as hi han moltes persones are heard (informal; regional: especially Valencian and Northwestern Catalan), but use hi ha moltes persones in careful speech and writing. In colloquial Valencian, existential haver-hi may also include an apparently redundant en: n'hi ha molta gent (informal; regional: Valencian). Without an omitted quantity or noun, formal usage has simply hi ha molta gent.

For the auxiliary, havem and haveu occur (regional: Valencian) beside general hem and heu. The first-person haig occurs in the modal construction haig de marxar (regional: especially Central Catalan), but not in the perfect: standard Catalan says he marxat, never haig marxat.

Haver de: obligation, not possession

The pattern haver de + infinitive expresses necessity or an undertaking. The present form still agrees with the subject, and a weak pronoun precedes the finite verb.

He de trucar a l'avi abans de sopar.

I have to call Grandpa before dinner.

Ho hem de decidir avui, perquè demà ja serà massa tard.

We have to decide it today, because tomorrow will already be too late.

This is not a compound tense: trucar and decidir are infinitives, not participles. It is also distinct from possession with tenir. See obligation with haver de for the full modal system.

Mini-dialogue: three structures at work

—Has vist la Júlia? —Sí, l'he trobada al mercat.

—Have you seen Júlia? —Yes, I ran into her at the market.

—Hi ha gaire cua? —No, però hi he de tornar més tard.

—Is there much of a queue? —No, but I have to go back there later.

In the first exchange, has vist and he trobada are present perfects. In the second, hi ha is existential, while hi he de tornar contains locative hi plus modal he de. Identical small words can play different roles; read the whole construction.

Indicative meaning and a neighboring mood

Present indicative hi ha asserts existence as part of the speaker’s current picture of reality. When a larger construction presents that existence as desired, doubted, or not asserted, Catalan uses a different mood:

Sé que hi ha una solució.

I know there is a solution.

No crec que hi hagi una solució fàcil.

I don’t think there is an easy solution.

The choice is not caused mechanically by que. Sé que asserts the embedded proposition, so it takes indicative hi ha; no crec que withholds assertion, so it takes subjunctive hi hagi. Viewpoint and assertion status—not an English word-for-word match—determine the mood.

Common Mistakes

1. Making existential hi ha plural.

❌ Hi han tres correus sense respondre.

Incorrect in formal standard Catalan — existential haver-hi should not agree with the plural noun phrase.

✅ Hi ha tres correus sense respondre.

There are three emails awaiting a reply.

2. Using haver for possession as though every English “have” were auxiliary.

❌ He dos germans petits.

Incorrect — possession takes tenir, not auxiliary haver.

✅ Tinc dos germans petits.

I have two younger brothers.

3. Putting a weak pronoun between the auxiliary and participle.

❌ He el vist aquest matí.

Incorrect — the weak pronoun must precede the finite auxiliary.

✅ L'he vist aquest matí.

I saw him this morning.

4. Using the Spanish-shaped obligation tenir que.

❌ Tinc que acabar l'informe avui.

Incorrect in standard Catalan — this copies Spanish tener que.

✅ He d'acabar l'informe avui.

I have to finish the report today.

5. Choosing a mood from one trigger word without reading the meaning.

❌ No crec que hi ha prou cadires.

Incorrect — the existence of enough chairs is presented as doubtful, not asserted.

✅ No crec que hi hagi prou cadires.

I don’t think there are enough chairs.

Key Takeaways

Use person-marked he, has, ha, hem, heu, han before a participle.
Keep existential hi ha singular in formal standard Catalan, even before a plural noun.
Put finite weak pronouns before haver: l'he vist, hi hem anat, n'hi ha tres.
Use tenir for possession and haver de + infinitive for obligation.

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