This is the 401st most frequent Spanish word.
habían
"Habían" is the third-person plural imperfect tense of "haber," meaning "there were" or used as an auxiliary verb in past perfect constructions.
In this sentence, 'habían' is used as an impersonal plural verb to indicate existence in past tense.
Habían muchos libros en la mesa.
There were many books on the table.
Here, 'habían' functions as an auxiliary verb with the past participle 'llegado' to form the past perfect tense.
Ellos habían llegado tarde a la reunión.
They had arrived late to the meeting.
In this example, 'habían' is again an auxiliary verb forming the past perfect tense, emphasizing the completion of the discussing action before another point in past.