There Is & There Are

A1 · BeginnerSentence Structure & Clauses

There is a table in the room. There are three chairs. 'There' isn't a place here — it's a placeholder subject that introduces what exists.

What you'll learn

'There is/are' introduces the existence of something — 'there' is a placeholder subject with no real meaning of its own
Is/are agrees with the noun that follows, not with 'there' itself — There is a book. / There are books.
The past forms are there was / there were, following the same singular/plural agreement
Questions and negatives invert or negate is/are/was/were exactly like the verb be elsewhere: Is there...? / There isn't...

'There' as a placeholder subject

'There is/are' announces that something exists, without focusing on a real subject. 'There' fills the subject slot grammatically but doesn't refer to a place or a thing — the real information is the noun that comes after is/are.

"There is a table in the room."

"There are three chairs here."

Agreement with the following noun

Is or are is chosen based on the noun that follows — singular or uncountable takes is, plural takes are — even though 'there' itself is neither singular nor plural.

"There is water in the bottle."

"There are many people at the concert."

Past, negative, and question forms

'There' behaves just like any subject with be: was/were for the past, isn't/aren't/wasn't/weren't for negatives, and is/are/was/were inverting in front of 'there' for questions.

"There was a storm last night."

"There isn't any milk left."

"Is there a bank nearby?"

Real English

"There's a problem with the printer."

"There were a lot of people there."

"Are there any tickets left?"

"There aren't any seats left."

Watch out

✗It has a table in the room.

✓There is a table in the room.

English uses 'there is/are' to introduce existence, not 'it has' — 'it' isn't the right placeholder subject here.

✗There is three chairs here.

✓There are three chairs here.

Is/are agrees with the noun after it (three chairs = plural), not with 'there' itself.

✗There was many people at the concert.

✓There were many people at the concert.

The past form also agrees with the following noun — 'many people' is plural, so it needs 'were'.

Real life — Checking a restaurant

"Are there any tables free right now?"

"Let me check... yes, there are two by the window."

"Is there a wait for a bigger table?"

"There's a short one, about ten minutes."

Practice

Exercise 1 · Choose the correct sentence

Choose the correct sentence.

Exercise 2 · Choose the correct sentence

Choose the correct sentence.

Exercise 3 · Choose the correct sentence

Choose the correct sentence.

Exercise 4 · Choose the correct sentence

Choose the correct sentence.

Exercise 5 · Choose the correct negative sentence

Choose the correct negative sentence.

Exercise 6 · Choose the correct question

Choose the correct question.

Exercise 7 · Choose the correct question

Choose the correct question.

Exercise 8 · Choose the correct sentence

Choose the correct sentence.

Exercise 9 · Rewrite using 'There is/are'

Rewrite using 'There is/are': 'A dog is in the yard.'

Exercise 10 · Turn into a question

Turn into a question: 'There are seats available.'

Exercise 11 · Sort into groups

There is a cat.

There are two cats.

There was a party.

There were problems.

There is water.

There are books.

0 / 6 sorted

Quick challenge

Five quick questions to check what stuck.

Question 1 / 5

Score: 0/0

Choose the correct sentence.

You learned

'There is/are' introduces the existence of something — 'there' is a placeholder subject.
Is/are agrees with the noun that follows, not with 'there' itself.
The past forms are there was / there were.
Questions and negatives work exactly like be elsewhere: Is there...? / There isn't...

ElementarySentence Structure & Clauses

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ElementarySentence Structure & Clauses

Phrases vs Clauses

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ElementarySentence Structure & Clauses

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IntermediateSentence Structure & Clauses

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