Do you know when to use “there is” and “there are” in a sentence? Learning to use these terms will make your English sentences more polished and closer to the way a native speaker expresses themselves, as it will eliminate one of the most common mistakes made by Brazilians who study the language.

To tell you what this error is and explain the correct way to use these expressions when speaking or writing in English, blog from CCAA has prepared a complete explanation on the topic. We will also show you how you should inflect the verb to be in the sentence when expressing an idea in the past or future – and to stay on top of the subject, check out our content on English verb tenses.

So… It's time to learn!

What do “there is” and “there are” mean?

The expressions “there is” and “there are” are the most correct ways to say in English that something exists, with the first option being used in singular sentences and the second in the plural. In addition to the verb “existir”, another possible translation is with the verb “haver” and its conjugations, as both convey the same idea.

The word “there” alone means “over there” or “over there,” while “is” and “are” are variations of the verb to be. The correct pronunciation of these terms is “dhéR iz” or “dhéR áR.”

A very simple example to understand in practice is the sentence “Há uma TV em meu quarto”, which in English is “There is a TV in my bedroom”. See how simple it is? However, even in cases like this, you may end up getting confused and making a basic mistake when putting together your sentences.

What is the most common mistake when saying “there is something”?

In everyday life, when we are speaking in Portuguese, it is common for us to use the verb “ter” to express the idea of the existence of an object. For example, instead of saying “there is a TV in my room” we use “there is a TV in my room” and this use, in Portuguese, does not entail any loss of meaning in the sentence.

Because of this habit, it is normal for beginner English language students to reproduce this language defect when forming sentences in another language. In other words, Instead of using “there is” or “there are”, they end up using “have” – which means “to have” – to say that there is a certain item in a certain place, which is completely wrong.

Although this expression is correct in Portuguese, it is incorrect in English. So, don't replace “há” with “tem”, okay? To avoid making this mistake, check out the correct way to use “there + to be” in prayers!

How to use “there is” and “there are” correctly?

There is a grammatically correct order for constructing sentences with “there is” and “there are” in the present tense. Although it is a basic sequence that can be adapted in many ways, it is important to remember that, in some cases, you must add complements to the sentence and, in others, the order will be changed.

Now see the rules for using these expressions and examples to fix the content in your mind!

Affirmation

The structure of an affirmative sentence using these terms is very simple. Your main concern should be related to the number of objects you will be referring to., so that you can correctly choose whether the verb to be “are” or “is” will be used.

See how a sentence should be composed with these terms!

There + verb to be (are or is) + complement.

The complement of these sentences needs to contain information about the quantity of elements you are referring to and what item you are talking about.. For example, if you want to talk about the books on a shelf, the end of your sentence should indicate that there are several units and that they are books.

To make it easier to understand, check out the examples!

• “There are six plates on the dining table.” – There are six plates on the dining table;
• “There is a boat moored in the bay.” – There is a boat moored in the bay;
• “There are tests from five classes to correct today.” – There are tests for five classes to grade today.

Did you see how complements always show the quantity and make it clear what the object being talked about is? Don't forget to consider the cognates in English when putting together the complement of your sentence. After all, if you don't study well which words cause errors when translated, you might say something completely different from what you would like.

Denial

There are two ways to express a negative in sentences that contain “there is” and “there are”. The first is the extended version in which you add “not” in the sentence after the verb to be. The second is with “is” or “are” + the abbreviation for negation, which results in “isn't” and “aren't”.

In these cases the sentence structure is as follows:

There + verb to be (is or are) + not + complement.

Check out some examples!

• “There are not two biology books in your bag.” – There are not two Biology books in your bag;
• “Sorry. There aren't any more shirts in your size.” – Sorry. There are no more shirts in your size;
• “There isn't a shorter way. Both take the same amount of time.” – There is no shorter way. They both take the same amount of time.

Question

When you want to ask a question about the existence of some item, you will need to invert the order of the verb. to be in your sentence. The sentence should have the following structure:

Verb to be (is or are) + there + complement + question mark (?).

Check out some sentences in this model:

• “Is there a seesaw in the garden?” – Is there a seesaw in the garden?
• “Are there any more people who want to play this game?” – Are there more people who want to play this game?
• “Is there a person who can help me with my homework?” – Is there someone who can help me with my homework?

Inflection of “there is” and “there are” according to the verb tense

All the examples we gave are with the inflection of “there is” and “there are” in the present. However, when speaking in the past or future, the way of expressing yourself changes a little. See the explanation on this topic!

Past

As the verbs “is” and “are" are irregular, when used in sentences in the past, their inflection changes to “was” and “were”, respectively. In this way, you should replace these words in your sentences, but the structure for affirmations, negatives and questions remains. Check it out:

Affirmative: There + verb in the past (was or were) + complement;
Negative: There + verb in the past (was or were) + not + complement;
Interrogative: Verb in the past (was or were) +there + complement + question mark (?).

See an example with this inflection:

• “There was a library here.” – There was a library here;
• “There was not a library here.” – There was no library here;
• “Was there a library here?” – Was there a library here?

To better understand this change in the inflection of terms when we modify the verb tense, see list of irregular verbs that we make available on blog and learn more about the topic!

Future

In sentences conjugated in the future, the inflection of “is” and “are” can also change. There are two ways to make this change: The first one is adding the “going to” without changing the verb tense of “is” and “are”; the second is transforming the verb to be in “will”. See what the sentence structure looks like in each of these cases:

Future with going to: There + verb to be (is or are) + going to + complement;
Future with will: There + will + complement.

In these cases, the structure of affirmation, negation and interrogation is also maintained. Check out some examples:

• “There are going to be more buses on this line.” – There will be more buses on this line;
• “There are not going to be more buses on this line” – There will be no more buses on this line;
• “Are there going to be more buses on this line?” – Will there be more buses on this line?
• “There are going to be two students for each advisor.” – There will be two students for each supervisor;
• “There are not going to be two students for each advisor.” – There will not be two students for each supervisor;
• “Are there going to be two students for each advisor?” – Will there be two students for each advisor?

This was a summary of how to use “there is” and “there are” in affirmative, negative or interrogative sentences, in the three main verb tenses. However, To achieve fluency, you need consistency and dedication to studying English, right? No blog From CCAA, you can find content to study quickly, anywhere!

Take the opportunity to make a placement test to find out in which level your English skills are. Use the results to understand which topics you need to focus more on!