Question

Habían tres pájaros en el árbol.
correct
incorrect

Answer 1

incorrect

Answer 2

@mathstudent55 how is that incorrect? It seems to me that sentence says:

There were three birds in the tree.

Answer 3

correct

Answer 4

In correct Spanish, to say there was or there were, the word "había" is used. It is never used as "habían." Young children and people who don't speak correctly sometimes say "habían," but it's still incorrect.
Think of the present tense. If you wanted to say "there are three birds on the tree," how would you say it? How would you say "there is one bird one the tree"? Then you would use the word "hay" in both cases.

Answer 5

Habia is singular in spanish past tense
Habian is plural in spanish past tense
Hay is present tense

http://www.studyspanish.com/verbs/lessons/pastperfect.htm

Answer 6

There are two ways of using había, and it varies with the way you are using it.
If you use it as an auxiliary verb, then the form habían is used when necessary to match the subject.

For example:
The plural of
El había llegado. He had arrived.
is
Ellos habían llegado. They had arrived.
In this case, the past tense of haber is conjugated and matches the person:
él había llegado
ellos habían llegado
and similalrly,
yo había llegado
tú habías llegado
él había llegado
nosotros habíamos llegado
vosotros habíais llegado
ellos habían llegado.

When haber is used to mean "there is" or "there are" or "there was" or "there were" then only the singular form is used:
Hay una casa en la calle.
Hay muchas casas en la calle.
Había una casa en la calle.
Había muchas casas en la calle.

If you claim that habían is used for "there were," then what do you say for "there are"?
In other words if you say that in the past it's correct to say "habían muchas casas", then how do you say that sentence in the present? Do you say "Han muchas casas"? No, you say "Hay muchas casas. Just like in the present, "hay" in the singular means both there is and there are, in the past, "había" also means there was and there were.

Answer 7

incorrect

Answer 8

correct

Answer 9

For all of you who say that the sentence in the question is correct, just answer this question:

How do you say in Spanish in the present tense "There are three birds on the tree."?
Which form of "haber" do you use for "there are", singular or plural?