Look at these examples to see how we use there is and there are.
There's a very big park in my city.
There aren't any street markets.
There are no restaurants in the station.
But there's a café and a bank.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Grammar explanation
Affirmative
We use there is to say that something exists or is in a place.
There is a bridge in the park.
We use there is for singular nouns and there are for plural nouns.
There is a restaurant in the station.
There are two cafés in the shopping centre.
We can say there's instead of there is. We often say this when we speak. But there is no short form for there are.
There is a restaurant in the station. > There's a restaurant in the station.
There are two cafés. >There're two cafés.
When we are speaking informally and make a list of things, we often use there is or there's instead of there are.
There's a café, a supermarket and a bus stop on my street.
(Instead of There are a café, a supermarket and a bus stop on my street.)
Negative
For negatives, we use there isn't or there's not (= there is not) for singular and there aren't (= there are not) for plural.
There isn't a pharmacy near the hotel.
There aren't any restaurants near the hotel.
We often use there isn't a + singular noun, there isn't any + uncountable noun and there aren't any + plural noun.
There isn't a café near here.
There isn't any milk.
There aren't any toilets in the park.
To show that the negative is important, we also often use there is no + uncountable noun and there are no + plural noun. (It is possible to use there is no + singular noun, but it's not as common.)
There's no milk.
There are no toilets in the park.
Questions
For questions, we say Is there for singular nouns and uncountable nouns and Are there for plural nouns.
Is there a café near here?
Is there any milk in the fridge?
Are there any toilets in the park?
To answer, we say Yes, there is (not Yes, there's) or No, there isn't, or Yes, there are or No, there aren't.
Is there a café near here? Yes, there is. / No, there isn't.
Is there any milk in the fridge? Yes there is. / No, there isn't.
Are there any toilets in the park? Yes, there are. / No, there aren't.
Here is a summary of these forms.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| affirmative | there is there's |
there are |
| negative | there is not there isn't there's not |
there are not there aren't |
| negative + a/any | there isn't a ... (countable) there isn't any ... (uncountable) |
there aren't any ... |
| negative + no | there is no ... | there are no ... |
| question | Is there ...? | Are there ...? |
Other verb tenses
We can use there is and there are in many other verb tenses.
There was a storm last night. (Past simple)
There were a lot of cars on the roads yesterday. (Past simple)
There will be a lot of people at the shopping centre tomorrow. (Future simple)
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Peter,
I‘m a German English teacher and I‘m wondering if the following sentence is grammatically correct:
„In my bedroom is a desk.“
Or do you have to say:
„In my bedroom, there is a desk.“
(If you want to emphasize the bedroom. Otherwise you would just say „There is desk in my bedroom.“, I guess.)
Thank you very much for your help!
Hello MrKap,
In my bedroom is a desk is correct. It's an example of inversion using a prepositional phrase. Here are some other examples:
Round the corner came the car.
Beside the house was a small tree.
Under the car lay a black and white cat.
This kind of inversion has a slightly rhetorical or literary ring to it and is uncommon in everyday speech. As you say, the more common form is to put the prepositional phrase at the end with a dummy subject such as 'there' if necessary.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi, I'm confused about this. I came across in a textbook about this. Could you help me which one is correct?
There are two armchairs, a sofa, a coffee table, etc.
There is a bed, two pillows, a blanket and three chairs in the bedroom.
Which one is correct? If both are wrong, then what should be used for such conditions? Thank you so much
Hello outopia,
The choice of there is or there are depends on the first item in the list. In your first sentence the first item is plural (two armchairs), so there are is used. In your second sentence the first item is singular (a bed), so there is is used.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter,
Which one is correct - In the list or on the list?
Would you mind explaining the reason behind it?
Thank you.
Hi JemJem,
In almost all cases the correct form is 'on the list'. However, when the verb used before the phrase has a strong collocation with 'in' we sometimes use 'in the list'. Most often this is with the verb 'include':
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi,
I wanted to ask a question about "this is" and "it's" on a reading exercise for efl kids there was a picture of a desk and under the picture there were these sentences: a desk, this is a desk, this is a messy desk. So i can understand why they used "this is" but is it also possible to use "it's" a desk for that reading exercise. Also when someone is asking "what's this" do we need to say this is a desk or it's a desk. which one is better to use while teaching pupils
Hi nino23,
We use this is (or these are) often with a pointing or similar gesture to introduce a new item or to identify it for the first time. We use it is (or they are) once the item has been registered and we want to add further information.
A good way to teach this is to use a party context. When you introduce a person to another person for the first time you don't say He's Peter or She's Paula but rather This is Peter or This is Paula. Only after than do you say He's teacher or She's from London in order to add more information.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
The topic confuses me, where should I use it correctly for use.
Hello geo_rv18,
We use there is / there are when we are describing things that exist. That sounds rather abstract but it's actually quite simple. For example, I am sitting in my kitchen right now and if I want to tell you about the things in my kitchen I use there is / there are:
There is / there are can be used any time you describe something and want to talk about it in this way.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team