There is - There are

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.

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 Christmas.

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.

The Negative contractions are:

There's not = There isn't

There are not = There aren't

There Are 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?

Try our interactive game to practice There is - There Are.

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Last Updated: 01 January 2009