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haiga. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
haiga, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
haiga in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
haiga you have here. The definition of the word
haiga will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
haiga, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Catalan
Verb
haiga
- (colloquial Northern, Balearic) first-person singular present subjunctive of haver
Estonian
Noun
haiga
- comitative singular of hai
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈaiɡa/
- Rhymes: -aiɡa
- Syllabification: hai‧ga
Etymology 1
Assumption due to many other verbs having -g- inserted for their first-person present indicative and for all their present subjunctive (e.g. poner has pongo as its first-person present indicative and has -g- present in all its present subjunctive, and so does hacer, caer, oír, and decir, along with many others). The -g- stem replaced many older verb stems, included -e-, -i-, -y-, all inherited from Latin, but did not replace the stems in the verb haber. Haiga was occasionally used in Old Spanish but never gained enough use to replace haya as other verb conjugations did with their verb.
Verb
haiga (archaic, dialectal, proscribed, sometimes used as a joke)
- (chiefly Mexico, archaic) Alternative form of haya (“there is, there are”)
- 2003, Hugo Paredero, ¿Cómo es un recuerdo? La dictadura contada por los chicos que la vivieron, 426:
Que haiga trabajo, que haiga muchos trabajos en el mundo para ganar plata.- Let there be jobs, let there be lots of jobs so everyone in the world can earn money.
Digamos que no haiga agua en tu casa, ¿no te preguntarías por qué e irías a investigar?- Suppose there is no water in your house, wouldn't you wonder why and go investigate?
Usage notes
- Haiga, as a conjugation of haber, is considered incorrect by the Royal Spanish Academy, the correct conjugation is haya.
- Despite being declared incorrect by the Royal Spanish Academy, it is still widely used regionally by people, especially those of lower income and as such is sometimes used to imitate them in jokes.
Etymology 2
From the phrase el coche más grande que haiga (literally “the biggest car there is”). haiga (see the first etymology under this section) is an incorrect conjugation of the verb haber (the correct form is haya) and is often linked to how a person of low income speaks. Big cars were too linked with low-income individuals who wanted to appear very important, thus haiga was retained as a name for big cars.
Noun
haiga m (plural haigas)
- (rare, derogatory, Spain) a huge and flashy motorcar, automobile
Further reading