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 are. There’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.