Lesson 15 - How to Say “There is” or “There are” in Spanish
Technorati Tags: spanish, spanish verbs, hay, haber
It is important to be able to know how to say “there is” or “there are” in Spanish because it will be the basis upon which you can start describing places. In Spanish the verb to use is Haber. This verb, however, is irregular. For now, though, you don’t need to worry yourself with the conjugations. All you need to know is the following:
Hay = There is/There are
That’s right, in Spanish there is one verb conjugation to express both “there is” and “there are.” Nice, eh? Let’s look at some examples:
Hay tres niños en mi casa. (There are three kids in my house).
Hay un libro en la mesa. (There is a book on the table).
As you can see, Hay is used for both - there is and there are.
Click here to read more on Hay.
November 11th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Hi there,
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Nipun
November 14th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
Thanks, Nipun! I’m glad you appreciate the resources here. I’ll do my best to continue to add!
December 6th, 2006 at 8:15 pm
Just wanted to thankyou for all the effort you’ve been putting into this site.
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Just a note, not a criticism– ‘Hay’ is a nice short way of saying there is and there are, but there are some cases where ‘there is/are’ in English *isn’t* translated ‘hay’. For example: ‘There are four of us- three guys and one girl, and my sister’s the oldest, then me, then my 2 brothers’. In Spanish ‘Somos cuatro- tres hombres y una mujer y mi hermana es la más grande, luego yo, luego mis dos hermanos’. So– ‘there are’ = ’somos’ = ‘we are’.
Just thought I’d mention it.
–David.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:55 am
No worries, David. I appreciate you adding to the blog in this manner. It’s always helpful!
February 7th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
yup i was just looking at this website and its really good! i had a test on “tener idioms” and how to conjugate “tener” in my espanol class and i didnt have my notes with me, but this website helped me ace it!
February 14th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Hi Gracie,
I’m glad to hear that OuterSpanish was of help to you! Makes me really happy to know that! Thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it!
Sonny