Había vs Habrían

Question

I thought that Habrian is in the future, but I have seen it used many times as not in the future. Are these two interchangeable?

Accepted Answer

Hola Thomas
Había and Habría are two different tenses from "haber".
Había is the imperfect tense as in "there was/were", for example:

Había mucho tráfico en la autopista.
There was a lot of traffic on the motorway.
No había estudiantes en la clase.
There were no students in the classroom.

Habría is the conditiional, as in "there would be...", for example:

Si no fuéramos tan egoístas, habría más armonía en el mundo.
If we weren't so selfish, there would be more harmony in the world.

However, we sometimes use the conditional to express something we think possible about the past, for example:

Yo creo que habría unos 200 invitados en la boda de Carlos.
I think there were "probably" about 200 guests at Carlos' wedding.

Here is a Kwiziq lesson about this specific use.
The future of "haber" is "habrá", for example:

En la reunión habrá un representante de los trabajadores.
At the meeting there will be a representative of the employees.

You can see some more examples here.
I hope this clarified it.
Un saludo
Inma

Answer

Hola Thomas
Not quite. If you use "yo creo que" you need the indicative. You only need the subjunctive if it is a negative opinion phrase: "Yo NO creo que...", so:

Yo creo que hay unos 200 invitados en la boda de Carlos. (hay, indicative)
Yo no creo que haya unos 200 invitados en la boda de Carlos. (haya, subjunctive)

Here's a Kwiziq lesson about this.
Saludos

Answer

@imma (not sure if this is how to reply) - thanks so much for the clarification. Makes perfect sense now!

One more tense with haber (is this correct):

Yo creo que haya unos 200 invitados en la boda de Carlos.

I think there are "probably" about 200 guests at Carlos' wedding.

Answer

Thanks!  I believe/think the confusion comes from my English mindset. We can look purely at this last sentence using "I believe/think". To me there is a definite level of doubt in this statement. I am not sure if it comes directly from my English mindset, I think it comes from there. So in my view 'yo creo/pienso' should be subjuntivo tambien. Not sure if this is making sense or I am overthinking it. But noted, will remember 'Creer/Pensar' en Espanol is to be sure of something now.

Answer

Hi Dominic,yes, it's not odd at all to think that the phrase "yo creo que" falls into the category of "doubt". It just happens to not be the case for Spanish people. We see it more like an opinion phrase and don't consider this as "doubtful thinking" I guess.