An impersonal sentence is a sentence with no real subject — nothing or nobody is performing the action. English handles this with "dummy" pronouns: it is raining, there is a problem, one never knows. Spanish does the same thing without needing a dummy: llueve, hay un problema, uno nunca sabe — or, more typically, se vive bien aquí. The verb is locked into the third-person singular (or, with passive se, sometimes plural) and there is no overt subject at all.
This page surveys the three big impersonal families: weather verbs (llueve, nieva, hace frío), existence with haber (hay, había, hubo, ha habido), and impersonal se (se vive bien, se dice que…). It also covers the most common error in this territory — agreeing hay in number with its complement — and why the educated peninsular norm rejects it even though you will hear it on the street.
The defining feature: no semantic subject
In a normal sentence, someone or something does the action: Juan llegó tarde. In an impersonal sentence, no one does it — the event just happens. Spanish marks this by:
- Locking the verb into third-person singular (with a few exceptions in passive se).
- Allowing no overt subject in the sentence.
- Preventing any agreement between the verb and what looks like a noun complement.
Llueve a cántaros, no salgáis sin paraguas.
It's pouring — don't go out without an umbrella.
Hay tres mensajes nuevos en el contestador.
There are three new messages on the voicemail. (hay, not *han, despite the plural mensajes)
Se vive muy bien en este barrio.
One lives really well in this neighborhood. (no subject — just se + verb)
Weather verbs
Weather is the prototype of impersonal expression. The verbs all conjugate in the third-person singular only — there is no yo lluevo or vosotros llovéis.
The core weather verbs
| Verb | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| llover | to rain | Llueve. |
| nevar | to snow | Nieva. |
| granizar | to hail | Graniza. |
| tronar | to thunder | Truena. |
| relampaguear | to lightning | Relampaguea. |
| amanecer | to dawn | Amanece a las siete. |
| anochecer | to grow dark | Anochece pronto en invierno. |
En Galicia llueve casi todo el invierno; en Almería apenas.
In Galicia it rains almost the whole winter; in Almería barely at all.
Esta mañana ha nevado en la sierra y han cortado la carretera.
It snowed in the mountains this morning and they've closed the road.
Weather with hacer and haber
The bigger weather family uses hacer + noun and haber + noun. These are still impersonal — the verb stays singular and there is no subject — but the construction is hacer with a weather noun.
Hoy hace mucho fresco para ser junio.
It's quite chilly today for June. (peninsular fresco = pleasantly cool/chilly)
Esta mañana hacía un frío que pelaba.
It was bitterly cold this morning. (a Spain colloquialism — literally 'a cold that peeled')
Hace mucho viento en la costa hoy.
It's very windy on the coast today.
Va a haber niebla esta noche en la meseta.
There's going to be fog tonight on the plateau.
Existence with haber: hay and its tense forms
Hay ("there is / there are") is the impersonal form of haber and the single biggest trap for learners. It exists in every tense, and across every tense it is invariable — it does not agree with what follows in number, ever.
The full paradigm
| Tense | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Presente | hay | Hay tres cervezas en la nevera. |
| Pretérito imperfecto | había | Había mucha gente en la calle. |
| Pretérito indefinido | hubo | Hubo varios accidentes ayer. |
| Pretérito perfecto | ha habido | Ha habido un problema con el pedido. |
| Futuro | habrá | Habrá protestas si suben los impuestos. |
| Condicional | habría | Habría más voluntarios si lo supieran. |
| Subjuntivo presente | haya | Espero que haya bastante comida para todos. |
| Subjuntivo imperfecto | hubiera/hubiese | Si hubiera tiempo, te lo explicaría. |
Había mucha gente en la manifestación del sábado.
There were a lot of people at Saturday's demonstration. (había, NOT *habían — singular regardless of complement)
Esta mañana ha habido un accidente en la M-30.
There's been an accident on the M-30 this morning. (Madrid ring road — peninsular present-perfect, perfectly natural)
Hubo tres incendios forestales en agosto.
There were three forest fires in August. (singular hubo, not *hubieron, despite the plural complement)
The invariance rule — and why "habían muchos" is wrong
In all of these tenses, haber refuses to agree with what follows. The thing that looks like the subject — muchos problemas, tres incendios, varias personas — is actually the grammatical complement of an impersonal verb. The verb has no subject at all, so there is nothing to agree with.
You will hear native peninsular speakers say things like habían muchos coches en el aparcamiento. This is what Spanish grammarians call a hypercorrection — the speaker has reasoned (wrongly) that "many cars" is the subject and so the verb should be plural. The Real Academia condemns it; the Nueva gramática labels it a non-standard form; and educated speech in Spain still treats it as an error. In writing it is consistently corrected, and in formal contexts it is a clear mark of insecure grammar.
❌ Habían muchos coches en la calle.
Incorrect (though sometimes heard) — habían is the third-person plural of the auxiliary, not the impersonal.
✅ Había muchos coches en la calle.
There were lots of cars in the street.
Hay only takes indefinite or numbered complements
Another quirk: hay takes complements that are indefinite, numbered, or quantified. It does not pair naturally with definite noun phrases.
| Use hay | Use estar |
|---|---|
| Hay un libro en la mesa. | El libro está en la mesa. |
| Hay tres niños en el parque. | Los tres niños están en el parque. |
| Hay agua en el suelo. | El agua está en el suelo. |
When the existence of something specific is already established (signalled by el, la, los, las, mi, este…), Spanish prefers estar — you are now locating a known entity, not asserting its existence.
Impersonal se
The third big impersonal family uses the pronoun se plus a third-person singular verb. It corresponds to English one, generic you, or passive constructions. In peninsular Spanish it is wildly common, much more so than uno + verb.
Generic statements
En España se come muy tarde, sobre las dos y media.
In Spain people eat really late, around half past two.
Aquí no se fuma.
No smoking here. (literally: 'here one does not smoke')
Se vive bien en este barrio, hay de todo.
Life is good in this neighborhood — there's everything you need.
Public signs and instructions
Impersonal se is the default voice for signs, recipes, and instructions in Spain:
Se prohíbe fumar en todo el recinto.
No smoking on the entire premises.
Se ruega no hablar durante la función.
Please refrain from talking during the performance.
Se calienta el aceite a fuego medio antes de echar la cebolla.
Heat the oil over medium heat before adding the onion.
Reporting verbs and rumors
A particularly useful construction: se dice que, se cree que, se sabe que — used to attribute claims to a generic source.
Se dice que el nuevo bar de la plaza es buenísimo.
They say the new bar on the square is fantastic.
Se cree que la subida del IPC se moderará el año que viene.
It's believed that the rise in CPI will moderate next year.
Why peninsular Spanish prefers se over uno
Latin American Spanish reaches more often for uno + verb (uno vive bien aquí) where Spain reaches for se (se vive bien aquí). Both are grammatically correct everywhere, but in Spain se is the unmarked, neutral choice — uno sounds slightly more formal or self-implicating, as if the speaker is gently saying "people, myself included." For neutral generic statements, default to se.
Other impersonal constructions worth knowing
Hace + time expression: time elapsed since something.
Hace dos años que vivo en Valencia.
I've been living in Valencia for two years.
Es + time / quality: time-of-day and weather identity.
Son las diez de la noche, ya es tarde para llamar.
It's ten at night, it's already late to call.
Es necesario / es posible / es importante que + subjunctive: impersonal evaluative expressions.
Es importante que lleguéis puntuales.
It's important that you all arrive on time.
Common Mistakes
❌ Han muchos problemas que resolver.
Incorrect — impersonal haber is always singular; han is the auxiliary, not the impersonal.
✅ Hay muchos problemas que resolver.
There are lots of problems to solve.
❌ Habían varias personas esperando en la puerta.
Incorrect — same trap in the imperfect; the singular había is correct.
✅ Había varias personas esperando en la puerta.
There were several people waiting at the door.
❌ Han habido problemas con el servidor.
Incorrect — even in compound tenses, the impersonal is singular: ha habido.
✅ Ha habido problemas con el servidor.
There have been problems with the server.
❌ Hace fríos esta mañana.
Incorrect — hace + weather noun stays singular regardless of intensity.
✅ Hace mucho frío esta mañana.
It's really cold this morning.
❌ El libro hay en la mesa.
Incorrect — definite noun phrases use estar, not hay.
✅ El libro está en la mesa.
The book is on the table.
Key Takeaways
- An impersonal sentence has no real subject; the verb is locked into the third-person singular.
- Weather verbs (llueve, nieva) and weather expressions (hace frío, hay niebla) are impersonal — never agree in number.
- Hay is invariable across every tense: hay, había, hubo, ha habido, habrá — never han, habían, hubieron, han habido. The plural-looking complement (muchos problemas) is not the subject.
- "Habían muchos" is a peninsular hypercorrection that the Real Academia and educated norm reject. In writing it is always corrected to había.
- Impersonal se is Spain's default way to express English one, generic you, or passive "is done": se vive bien aquí, se dice que, se prohíbe fumar.
- Use hay for indefinite or numbered existents; use estar for definite, located entities.
Now practice Spanish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
- Haber impersonal: hay, había, hubo, habráA1 — Impersonal haber across every tense — hay, había, hubo, habrá, habría, haya, hubiera, ha habido — always singular, regardless of how many things exist.
- Hay vs está: existencia vs ubicaciónA1 — Hay introduces things into discourse (existence); está/están locates things already known (location). The definite/indefinite article is the decisive clue.
- Se impersonal: se vive bien aquíB1 — The impersonal se construction — se + always-singular verb — used for generic, agent-less statements where English reaches for 'one,' 'you,' 'they,' or 'people.' The default way to make a generalization in peninsular Spanish.
- Expresiones meteorológicasA1 — How to talk about the weather in peninsular Spanish: hace frío/calor/sol/viento, está nublado/lloviendo, hay tormenta/niebla, plus llover/nevar as impersonal verbs. The verb-choice puzzle (hacer vs estar vs haber vs llover) and the peninsular climate vocabulary from Madrid heat to Cantabrian rain.