- In this video, we're going to learn how to say "there is",
and "there are" in Spanish.
Let's go!
(upbeat music)
Hello everyone and welcome to
Coffee Break Spanish. Okay. I'm Mark.
And I'm Marina!
- And, as Marina said,
we're going to be talking about "there is" or "there are",
and this comes from a question from our listener, Gaja.
Gaja said: can you explain how "hay" works in Spanish?
It seems different from Italian.
So sometimes you may be learning another language or you may
be starting from the starting point of another language, and
"hay" is different from "c'è" and "ci sono"
in Italian.
But let's find out more exactly in Spanish
about how "hay" works.
Marina, over to you.
- Okay.
So, first thing we need to know is how to translate
"there is" and "there are".
And even though in English
these two forms are singular and plural.
In Spanish we just have "hay".
- Let's look at some examples, then.
"Hay un perro en el jardín".
Okay, so, "hay un perro en el jardín".
There is a dog in the garden.
So "hay" means "there is" there.
"Hay un perro en el jardín".
But what word would we use if there were more than
one dog, or there were some children in the garden.
- Okay, then we would say,
"Hay varios niños en el jardín".
- So the same word is used.
"Hay varios niños en el jardín".
The same word "hay" is used because it just means
"there is", or "there are".
It can be a singular or a plural word.
So, unlike in Italian, Gaja, you don't change
the singular to plural, it's always "hay".
And that's the great thing about that word in Spanish.
Now Marina, we can use this word in other tenses, can't we?
- Yeah, of course we could say, for example,
"Este año ha habido varios accidentes".
- Okay.
"Este año", "this year"...
"ha habido", so that's our
perfect tense. "Ha habido"...
Did you say "varios accidentes"?
Mhmm "varios accidentes".
So "this year there have been various accidents".
"Este año ha habido"...
Now here, we've got our perfect tense of "haber"
being used in this sense of "there is" or "there are".
But here it means "this year,
there have been numerous accidents".
So that's the perfect tense of
"haber".
- We could also say.
"Había mucho tráfico esta mañana".
- Ah right, okay. So this is using the imperfect.
"Había mucho tráfico"...
"There was traffic".
..."esta mañana".
"There was lots of traffic this morning". "Esta mañana".
So, here, we've got "había",
and that is the imperfect of "haber",
used in this impersonal way. "There was lots of traffic".
"Había mucho tráfico esta mañana". What else?
- We could also use the future and say,
"habrá un concierto mañana".
- Okay. Are you going?
- (laughs) I hope so.
So "habrá un concierto mañana".
"There will be a concert tomorrow".
And there we've got our future.
So the future version of "hay", "there will be"...
"habrá un concierto mañana".
And what about a conditional?
Just to throw in another tense.
- So we could say
"no habría ningún problema".
Okay, "no habría"...
- So that means "there wouldn't be"
"ningún"...
"any problem".
"ningún problema", "no habría ningún problema".
And so the "habría" is our conditional.
So there we're seeing "hay" in different tenses.
Let's go through them all, one more time.
In each case, we can talk about plurals or singulars.
It doesn't matter. It always stays the same.
So let's do, "there is a dog in the garden".
- Okay.
"Hay un perro en el jardín".
Very good. Let's try
"there are lots of children in the garden".
"Hay varios niños en el jardín".
Okay.
So putting it into the perfect tense,
the perfect tense version of "hay".
"This year there have been many accidents".
"Este año ha habido varios accidentes".
And an imperfect example where
"this morning there was a lot of traffic".
"Había mucho tráfico esta mañana".
Into the future for "there will be a concert tomorrow".
"habrá un concierto mañana".
And, finally, the conditional form
"there wouldn't be any problem (if you were to do that)".
"no habría ningún problema".
Very good. Okay,
so, hopefully, Gaja, that has helped you understand a little
more of about "hay".
And the fact that we always use "hay",
even if it's a singular or a plural form.
And, that way, it's fairly straightforward in Spanish.
If you have a question like Gaja, then get in touch with us.
You can leave your questions at coffeebreakquestions.com
We'll see them there,
and we'll hopefully be able to include your question in a
future episode of the show.
And, if you've enjoyed this, if you've learned something,
then give it a like.
And make sure you subscribe to our channel to get more
little videos, to help you with your Spanish.
Don't forget also to click the little bell icon that
appears, and that way you'll be notified
whenever we post a new video.
- And don't forget to practise,
you can write your own sentences and leave a comment below.
Perfect. Well thank you very much Gaja.
Thank you for the interesting question.
Thank you very much, Marina.
Thank you very much Mark. It's a pleasure.
And see you next time. Bye!
See you soon!
(upbeat music)