Houve… Houveram… Haverá?

Certain verbs in Portuguese can generate endless doubts about their correct use. There are so many different tenses, inflections, and rules, according to the type of verb (regular, irregular, personal, impersonal), that many people give up trying to understand. So they simply go by “feeling” and, in their eagerness to use the form they believe to be correct, end up making mistakes.

Haver is one of those verbs that confuses many people. In fact, if we understand its function in a sentence, using it correctly becomes quite easy. We just need to keep in mind the meaning in which it is being used.

When it has the meaning of existir, ocorrer/acontecer and the passage of time, the verb haver is impersonal — therefore, without a subject, it is conjugated only in the third person singular. For this reason, in these cases there is no way to use plural inflected forms such as “houveram” (simple past) and “haverão” (future). See these examples to make it clearer:

Há 200 milhões de anos, houve milhares de espécies de dinossauros no mundo. (Há 200 milhões de anos, existiram milhares de espécies de dinossauros no mundo.)

Houve algumas obras nesta rua no ano passado. (Aconteceram algumas obras nesta rua no ano passado.)

Haverá protestos por todo o país na semana que vem. (Ocorrerão protestos por todo o país na semana que vem.)

On the other hand, sometimes the verb haver is personal. This happens when it functions as an auxiliary verb (and can be replaced by the verb ter). Thus, it can be inflected in the plural when necessary, since auxiliary verbs indicate person, tense, and mood:

As crianças haviam deixado os brinquedos espalhados pelo quarto. (As crianças tinham deixado os brinquedos espalhados pelo quarto.)

Os moradores houveram de comparecer à reunião do condomínio. (Os moradores tiveram de comparecer à reunião do condomínio.)

Os pedreiros ainda não haverão acabado a obra quando voltarmos. (Os pedreiros ainda não terão acabado a obra quando voltarmos.)

And that is not all. The verb haver also has other meanings that make it personal: to obtain, to deal with, to consider, to perform, and to behave. These uses, however, are rarer, so we prefer to focus here on the main meanings of this important verb.

In short, if there have been doubts at some point in your life, there is no reason to misuse the verb haver anymore. Always remember its meaning: if it means existir or acontecer, haver will never be “houveram/haverão”; if it replaces the verb ter, then its plural form is indeed allowed. 😉