Haver (To Have/There Is) — Full Conjugation

Haver is one of the strangest and most fascinating verbs in Portuguese. Historically it meant "to have" (cognate with French avoir, Spanish haber, Italian avere) and functioned as the ordinary possession verb. Over the centuries, ter took over that role almost completely in Portuguese — so almost completely that modern speakers very rarely use haver as "to have" anymore. Instead, haver has specialized into four distinct, powerful roles:

1. Existential — há um livro na mesa (there is a book on the table).
2. Temporal — há dois anos (two years ago) or há dois anos que estudo (I have been studying for two years).
3. Obligation / intention auxiliary — hei-de falar (I shall / am going to speak).
4. Compound-tense auxiliary in formal writing — havia chegado (literary alternative to tinha chegado).

Haver is highly irregular. Its forms must be memorized. But because most of its modern uses are impersonal (only the third-person singular há is used), the learning load is lighter than the full conjugation table might suggest.

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Present indicative — presente do indicativo

The full paradigm exists and is used in the haver de + infinitive construction, where every person is possible (hei-de, hás-de, há-de, havemos de, hão-de). In existential and temporal uses, only há appears.

Notice that há is always singular in existential use, even when the noun that follows is plural: há livros (there are books), há pessoas (there are people). This is the defining property of existential haver — it is invariable and never agrees with the following noun.

The hyphen question: hei-de, hás-de, há-de

Traditional European Portuguese orthography writes the haver de construction with hyphens in the singular forms: hei-de, hás-de, há-de. The hyphens mark that de is phonologically bound to the verb form. The plural forms are written without hyphens: havemos de, hão de.

Under the 1990 Orthographic Agreement (Acordo Ortográfico), some publishers drop the hyphens (hei de, hás de, há de), arguing that they are inconsistent with modern spelling norms. In practice, Portuguese newspapers, publishers, and writers are split: traditional texts and older speakers keep the hyphens; newer school materials often do not. Both are acceptable. This page uses the traditional hyphenated form because it is still the most frequent choice in European Portuguese.

Imperfect indicative — pretérito imperfeito

Havia is the past counterpart of existential há: havia um problema (there was a problem). Havia plus past participle is also the formal/literary equivalent of tinha + past participle: já havia chegado (had already arrived). In modern speech, tinha chegado is overwhelmingly preferred.

Preterite indicative — pretérito perfeito simples

Existentially, houve = "there was / there were" for a completed, bounded event: houve uma reunião ontem (there was a meeting yesterday). Like há, it stays singular regardless of the number that follows: houve três acidentes (there were three accidents).

Pluperfect indicative, simple — pretérito mais-que-perfeito simples

This is a literary tense. Everyday speech uses the compound tinha havido.

Pluperfect indicative, compound — pretérito mais-que-perfeito composto

Simple future — futuro do indicativo simples

Haverá is the existential future: haverá eleições em outubro (there will be elections in October).

Conditional — condicional (futuro do pretérito)

Present subjunctive — presente do conjuntivo

Haja is very frequent in the set phrase haja saúde! ("may there be health!" — a common toast or sigh of gratitude). Also used after triggers: espero que haja comida suficiente (I hope there is enough food).

Imperfect subjunctive — imperfeito do conjuntivo

Houvesse appears in hypothetical clauses: se houvesse tempo, fazíamos mais (if there were time, we'd do more).

Future subjunctive — futuro do conjuntivo

Houver is very common in future-oriented existential clauses: quando houver notícias, avisa-me (when there's news, let me know); se houver problemas, telefona (if there are any problems, call).

Present perfect subjunctive — pretérito perfeito do conjuntivo

Pluperfect subjunctive — pretérito mais-que-perfeito do conjuntivo

Future perfect subjunctive — futuro perfeito do conjuntivo

Imperative — imperativo

The imperative of haver is extremely rare. The affirmative tu form would theoretically be há, but it is essentially unused. The present subjunctive haja appears in the fossilized exhortation haja paciência! ("have patience!").

Personal infinitive — infinitivo pessoal

Function 1: Existential há

Há means "there is / there are" — but unlike English, it is always singular. It never agrees with the noun that follows.

Past tense uses houve (for a bounded event) or havia (for an ongoing past state):

Future and subjunctive forms follow the same invariance: haverá, haja, houvesse, houver.

Function 2: Temporal há (ago / for)

This is one of the most important patterns in Portuguese, and it has two senses depending on the structure of the sentence.

Sense A: há + time = "ago"

When há is followed by a time expression and no que clause, it means "ago":

Sense B: há + time + que + verb = "for + time"

When há is followed by a time expression plus que and a main verb in the present (or imperfect), it means English "for (a period)":

Note that the Portuguese verb is in the present tense even though English uses the perfect ("have been studying"). This is because Portuguese views the action as still ongoing.

An equivalent structure uses desde há or há without que (with the verb in the same position):

Function 3: Haver de + infinitive (intention / mild obligation)

This construction is uniquely Portuguese — Spanish uses it marginally, French and Italian do not have it at all. Haver de + infinitive expresses intention, determination, or a soft obligation: "shall," "am going to," "will make a point of."

All six persons are used (hei-de, hás-de, há-de, havemos de, haveis de, hão de), though the singular forms are most common in everyday speech. Note the traditional EP hyphenation in the singular: hei-de, hás-de, há-de. Plurals are written without the hyphen: havemos de, hão de.

The construction also appears in the imperfect (havia de) and preterite (houve de) for past unfulfilled intention or a past determination, though these are less common.

Function 4: Formal compound auxiliary (havia + participle)

Historically, haver was the auxiliary of choice for all compound tenses. Modern European Portuguese has shifted almost entirely to ter: tinha chegado, terei chegado, teria chegado. However, haver as auxiliary survives in:

• Formal writing (essays, academic prose, journalism).
• Literary texts, especially 19th- and early 20th-century novels.
• Set phrases: havia ele dito... (had he said...).

In conversation, já tinha tomado would be far more natural.

Example sentences in context

Há vs. tem — the existential frontier with Brazil

In European Portuguese, the existential verb is haver (há, havia, houve, haverá, haja...). In Brazilian Portuguese — especially in speech — existential há is largely replaced by ter (tem um gato no telhado = there's a cat on the roof). European speakers regard existential ter as marked or wrong; Brazilian speakers regard it as normal. When writing for or speaking with European Portuguese audiences, stick with há / havia / houve.

Há vs. por — time expressions

A subtle distinction trips up learners:

• Há dois anos que estudo = I have been studying for two years (and still am).
• Estudei por dois anos = I studied for two years (and then stopped).
• Estudei durante dois anos = I studied for (over the course of) two years.

Há + que + present frames the action as ongoing; por or durante with the preterite frames it as a completed stretch.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• Haver is highly irregular. Most of its modern life is as an impersonal verb — only the third-person singular is used in the existential and temporal senses.
• Existential há / havia / houve / haverá / haja / houvesse / houver is always singular, regardless of whether the following noun is singular or plural.
• Temporal há means "ago" when alone (há dois anos = two years ago) and "for (a period)" when followed by que
  • present-tense verb (há dois anos que estudo = I've been studying for two years).
• Haver de + infinitive — written with hyphens in the singular in traditional EP (hei-de, hás-de, há-de) — expresses intention or determination: "I shall, I will (make a point of)."
• Haver + past participle as an auxiliary (havia chegado) is a formal/literary alternative to ter + past participle (tinha chegado). In speech, use ter.
• Never use haver for simple possession in modern EP. "I have a car" is tenho um carro, never hei um carro.