Kilo Lingo
Part of Chapter 12

CEFR B1

4 min read

Test yourself (24 questions)

Spanish Impersonal Verbs

Some Spanish verbs and constructions don't take a personal subject. Things just exist, the weather just is, things just have to be done. These constructions are high-frequency and worth a dedicated page.

hay: existence

is the impersonal present-tense form of . It translates as "there is" or "there are" and stays invariable regardless of whether the following noun is singular or plural.

  • . (There's a car in the street.)
  • . (There are three restaurants here.)
  • No . (There's no one at home.)
  • ¿ ? (Is there any milk?)

It exists in every tense, all invariable:

TenseFormEnglish
Presentthere is / are
Imperfectthere was / were
Preteritethere was (bounded)
Futurethere will be
Conditionalthere would be
Present perfectha there has / have been

The split between and mirrors the standard preterite-vs-imperfect rule: for background description, for a bounded event.

hay que: obligation

+ infinitive expresses general or impersonal obligation - "one must" or "it's necessary to". No specific subject.

  • . (One must study.)
  • . (You have to eat well.)
  • final. (You have to pay at the end.)

For personal obligation ("I have to", "you have to"), use + infinitive:

  • . (I have to study.)
  • . (You have to pay.)

The two are distinct: is generic and applies to everyone; specifies who.

hace: weather and time

comes from (to make / to do) and serves two impersonal functions.

Weather:

  • . (It's cold. - lit. it makes cold)
  • . (It's hot.)
  • . (It's sunny.)
  • . (It's windy.)
  • . (The weather's good.)
  • . (The weather's bad.)

These all use + noun. The noun isn't an adjective - calor is heat, frío is cold. English would use an adjective ("it's cold"), Spanish uses a noun ("it makes cold").

Some weather uses estar with adjectives instead: nublado (it's cloudy), (it's clear).

Time elapsed:

  • . (I've lived here for two years. - lit. it makes two years that I live here)
  • . (He's been studying for an hour.)
  • llegué. (I arrived five minutes ago.)

The pattern is + time + + verb. Spanish uses the present tense after que for an ongoing duration, and the preterite for a bounded past event.

se + 3rd person: the generic "one"

Spanish uses + 3rd-person verb to make a generic, subject-less statement - the equivalent of English "one does X" or the passive "X is done".

  • . (Spanish is spoken here. / They speak Spanish here.)
  • . (One lives well here.)
  • No . (Smoking isn't allowed. / One can't smoke.)
  • . (Books are sold. / They sell books.)

The verb agrees in number with the subject when one is present: (a car is sold - singular), (books are sold - plural).

This is the standard impersonal in Spanish - more common than the passive voice (es vendido), which feels stiff in everyday use.

interesar / gustar / encantar

Verbs of liking and interest behave impersonally - the thing liked is the grammatical subject, and the person who likes it is the indirect object.

  • Me . (I like coffee. - lit. coffee is pleasing to me)
  • Me . (I like books. - verb agrees with libros, plural)
  • . (Politics interests him / her.)
  • . (We love this song.)

Verb agreement is with the thing liked, not the person who likes it. This catches every English speaker once. The cheatsheet covers the full pattern.

Worked examples

  • . (There are a lot of people in the square.)
  • . (It's very cold in winter.)
  • . (You have to be on time.)
  • y catalán. (Spanish and Catalan are spoken here.)
  • . (I've been studying Chinese for two months.)
  • No me . (I don't like coffee.)
  • . (There was an accident last night.)

Common mistakes English speakers make

Pluralising hay: hayn doesn't exist - it's always for both singular and plural. Confusing (there is) with (it is): (there's a problem), not "es un problema" unless you're identifying a specific known thing. Using for weather where Spanish wants hace: is wrong for "it's cold"; it's . And forgetting the agreement on gustar: me is wrong, it's me .

See also

Practise: test yourself

Pick the right one

0/8

Choose hay (existence) or hace (weather) for each gap.

  1. Hoy mucho sol.

  2. tres coches en la calle.

  3. mal tiempo.

  4. No agua en casa.

  5. Hoy buen tiempo.

  6. mucha gente aquí.

  7. un coche en la calle.

  8. Hoy mucho sol.

Fill in the blank

0/9

Fill the gap with the right impersonal form: hay, hay que, hace or se.

  1. mucha gente en la calle. (there are)

  2. trabajar mucho. (one must (+ infinitive))

  3. mucho sol hoy. (weather)

  4. Aquí trabaja mucho. (generic 'one' / impersonal se)

  5. dos años que vivo aquí. (time elapsed)

  6. comer bien. (one must (+ infinitive))

  7. Aquí trabaja bien. (generic 'one' / impersonal se)

  8. un problema con el coche. (there is)

  9. Hoy mucho sol en la ciudad. (weather)

Translation drill

0/7

Translate into Spanish, using the impersonal construction Spanish requires.

  1. There's a problem.

  2. It's very sunny today.

  3. You have to be on time.

  4. There are a lot of people in the street.

  5. One must eat well.

  6. One lives well here.

  7. One works a lot here.

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Frequently asked questions

What does hay mean in Spanish?
Hay is the impersonal form of haber and translates as 'there is' or 'there are'. It doesn't change for singular or plural - hay un coche (there's a car), hay tres coches (there are three cars). The past forms are había (there was / there were), hubo (there was - bounded event), habrá (there will be), habría (there would be) - all invariable for number. Hay is one of the highest-frequency verbs in Spanish and the standard way to assert existence.
What is the difference between es and hace for weather?
Spanish uses hace for most weather phenomena - hace frío (it's cold), hace calor (it's hot), hace sol (it's sunny), hace viento (it's windy). Literally 'it makes cold / heat / sun / wind'. Estar is used for adjectival descriptions - está nublado (it's cloudy), está soleado (it's sunny). Ser is rare in weather; you'll see it for general or repeated patterns - el clima es seco aquí (the climate is dry here). The default for talking about today's weather is hace + noun.