There is, there are – there was, there were

Grammar

We use there is and there are to say that something exists.

Positive Sentences

We use there is for singular and there are for plural.

  • There is one table in the classroom.
  • There are three chairs in the classroom.
  • There is a spider in the bath.
  • There are many people at the bus stop.

We also use There is with uncountable nouns:

  • There is milk in the fridge.
  • There is some sugar on the table.
  • There is ice cream on your shirt.

Contractions

The contraction of there is is there’s.

  • There’s a good song on the radio.
  • There’s only one chocolate left in the box.

You cannot contract there are.

  • There are nine cats on the roof.
  • There are only five weeks until my birthday.

Negative Form

The negative is formed by putting not after is or are:

  • There is not a horse in the field.
  • There are not eight children in the school.
  • There is not a tree in the garden.
  • There are not two elephants in the zoo.

We almost always use contractions when speaking.

The Negative contractions are:

  • There’s not = There isn’t
  • There are not = There aren’t

There aren’t with ANY

When we want to indicate that a zero quantity of something exists we use there aren’t any.

  • There aren’t any people at the party.
  • There aren’t any trees in my street.

We also use this structure with uncountable nouns:

  • There isn’t any water in the swimming pool.
  • There isn’t any sugar in my coffee.

Questions

To form a question we place is / are in front of there.

Again we use any with plural questions or those which use uncountable nouns.

We also use there is / are in short answers.

  • Is there a dog in the supermarket? – No, there isn’t.
  • Are there any dogs in the park? – Yes, there are.
  • Is there a security guard in the shop? – Yes, there is.
  • Are there any polar bears in Antarctica? – No, there aren’t.
  • Is there any ice-cream in the freezer? – Yes, there is.

How Many with Are There

If we want to find out the number of objects that exist we use How many in the following form:

How many + plural noun + are there (+ complement).

  • How many dogs are there in the park?
  • How many students are there in your class?
  • How many countries are there in South America?
  • How many Star Wars films are there?

Present and past

The past form of there is, there are is there was, there were.

  • There is a car in the street. ⇒  There was a car in the street.
  • There are some cars in the street. ⇒  There were some cars in the street.

Short forms

The short form of there is is there’s, but we don’t use a short form of there areThere’s is not used in short answers.

  • There’s a new secretary in the office.
  • There are two bathrooms in this house.  

There are no short forms for there was/there were.

In negative sentences, we often use the short forms there isn’t/there aren’t and there wasn’t/weren’t.

  • There isn’t any bread left. We need to buy more.
  • There aren’t any cookies in the jar.

Exercises on the theme:

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