Even today, there are many adults who confuse “to see” with the verb “to have”, committing spelling errors every time they write it in the middle of a confusion. Therefore, it is important to know their difference, when they are used at all times and above all, understand their meaning in order to use it correctly in the right context.

You will have to write “to see” or “to have” depending on what you want to say because although they sound the same, they are written differently and their meaning it’s not the same either. It is very common to read phrases such as “let’s see if we see each other tomorrow” or “let’s see if I’m lucky in that exam”… serious mistake!, but they are all too common mistakes, and they must end forever!

Differences between “to see” and “to have”

Although pronounced the same way, they do not mean the same:

• “A ver” is a sequence formed by the preposition “a” and the infinitive verb “ver”. Examples: “We are going to watch a movie tonight at home” or “Let’s see if you pay attention to me once and for all”.
• “Haber” can be a verb or a noun, depending on what you want to use it for. Examples: “There must be something I can do right now to help you” (verb) or “There must be several moving boxes still in the storage room” (noun ).

When to use “a ver”

“A ver” is used in the following circumstances:

• To ask someone else to teach us something. Example: “Let’s see what you have there”.
• If I want to express interest in knowing something. Example: “Let’s see, tell me now”.
• As a synonym of “of course” or “naturally”. Example: “Let’s see! Leave me alone for a while.”.

Before a sentence introduced by the conjunction “si”: express expectation (“A see if you know what I’m thinking”); fear or suspicion (“Let’s see if a thief is going to break into the kitchen”); wish or mandate (“Let’s see if you clean your bedroom tomorrow”).

When to use “have”

“Haber” is used in the following circumstances:

As a verb

• As an auxiliary verb followed by a participle to form compound infinitives. Example: “If we hadn’t put that box on the table, it wouldn’t have broken.”.
• To give evidence of the existence of what is named by the accompanying noun. Example: “There has to be another way of doing things”.

As a noun

• It means the set of goods of a person. Example: “All this land is part of my grandfather’s assets”.

With this trick you will never go wrong again

Usually when you want to say “let’s see” you can always change it to “let’s see”, so you’ll know which one to write! Example: “Let’s see, can you show me the blue dress?”… “Let’s see, can you show me the blue dress?”. This way you will always remember that it is related to the verb “to see” and not with the verb “to have”.

From now on, you will be able to differentiate how to write correctly. Another trick is that when you write do not go too fast , think carefully about what you are writing and what it means, in this way it will be easier for you to find the correct word to use it appropriately in the context you need. Learning spelling rules has never been easier!