In what cases is the form there is used? The rule for using the phrase there is (there are)

- this is one of the cases when in the Russian language there is no direct, one hundred percent equivalent of the English construction, so its use often causes difficulties for beginners.

Meanwhile, turnover there is \there are is used quite often not only in business or scientific language, but also in ordinary everyday speech. This is one of the constructions that you need to use and understand without the slightest difficulty, fully automatically. Fortunately, its use is not difficult; the most important thing is to understand the meaning of this construction.

The meaning of the construction There is \ There are

Literally there is translates as “is/is present here”, and there are as “there are/are present” (plural). But it would be more accurate to say that the phrase there + to be is used to denote the presence or presence of something or someone.

For example:

There is an old church in this town. – There is an old church in this city.

There are ten or eleven kids in the classroom. – There are ten or eleven children in the class.

There is always a way out. – There is always a way out.

There are two ways out of this tunnel. – There are two exits from this tunnel.

What is the difficulty of saying There is \ There are?

The difficulty is that, as can be seen in the examples above, this construction is not translated into Russian in some unique correct way - you need to select a translation according to its meaning. The words themselves there is \there are, as a rule, are not translated literally (“there is here”), their meaning is conveyed by other means.

This can be the verb “to be”, “to appear”, “to be present”.

There is a nice pizza place in this mall. - In this shopping center There is good pizzeria.

There is only one player. Where are the others? - Here present only one player. Where are the others?

But in Russian, verbs like “to be” are often omitted.

Good, now there are all four players. Deal the cards. - Okay, here now (There is) all four players. Deal the cards.

What other door? There is only one door. -What other door? Here (There is) only one door.

In general, you need to remember that if you want to say something about presence/absence object or person in some place, then you can often use the phrase there is \ there are.

There is a chair here. – There is an armchair.

There are many mirrors in this house. – There are many mirrors in this house.

Just don’t confuse presence/absence with possession, with the case when we say that a certain person possesses something. In this case, the meaning of the verb (to have) is appropriate:

I have a chair. – I have an armchair.

I have many mirrors in my house. – I have many mirrors in my house.

Using the phrase There is \ There are in tables with examples

The phrase there is \ there are can be used in the affirmative (as in the examples above), negative and interrogative forms. It can also be used in different tenses: present, past and future. The tables below provide examples of the use of there is \ there are in tenses Simple(Indefinite),

This phrase is also used in tenses Perfect(in Continuous and Perfect Continuous is not used), but much less often than in Simple, especially in colloquial speech. Examples are given in the table at the end of this article, however, this topic refers to “advanced”, and the phrases themselves are rarely used, some are practically not used at all, even in written speech.

Affirmative form

In the affirmative form, the phrase there is \ are is used as follows:

There is \ there are in the affirmative form
	Singular	Plural
Present Simple	There is There is a shop here. There is a store here.	There are There are four wires. There are four wires here.
Past Simple	There was There was a statue at this place. There was a statue at this place.	There were There were a few coins on the table. There were several coins on the table.
Future Simple	There will be There will be a car in the backyard. There will be a car in the backyard.	There will be There will be two more TV’s in the room. There will be two more TVs in the room.

Sometimes a sentence lists several items, with the first being singular and the second plural (or vice versa). In this case, the turnover there + to be agrees in number with the noun that comes after it.

For example:

There is a small box and two bigger boxes. – There is a small box and two larger boxes.

The noun comes first in the singular, so the verb is also singular – there is.

There are two big boxes and one bag. – There are two large boxes and one bag.

The first in the list is the plural noun, the verb takes the corresponding form - there are.

Negative form

The negative form can be constructed in two ways:

1. Using the particle not.

In this case, abbreviations are usually used: there is not = there isn’t, there was not = there wasn’t, there were not = there werent’, there will not be = there won’t be.

There isn't a chair here. - There is no chair here.

If after not If there is a plural countable noun or an uncountable noun, then the pronoun is added - not any.

There aren't any chairs here. - There are no chairs here.

There isn't any oil here. – There is no oil here.

After no goes a noun without an article or pronoun any.

There is no chair (chairs) in the room. – There is no chair(s) in the room.

There is no oil here. – There is no oil here.

There is a slight stylistic difference between these variants, which is understandable to native speakers. In addition, some set expressions are used either with no, or with not simply because it is customary.

There is no point in doing this! – There is no point in doing this!

It is generally believed that negation with not more categorical, but in fact everything depends heavily on the context and situation. In my opinion, no matter how you say it no or not, you will be understood in any case.

There is \there are in negative form
	Singular	Plural
Present Simple	There is no\isn’t There is no(isn’t a) tool in the box. There is no tool in the box.	There are no aren't There are no(aren’t any) beds in the bedroom. There are no beds in the bedroom.
Past Simple	There was no\wasn’t There was no(wasn’t an) engine in the car. The car had no engine.	There were no wasn't There were no(weren’t any) mistakes in his work There were no mistakes in his work.
Future Simple	There will be no(won't be any) help. There will be no help.	There will be no \ There won’t be any There will be no(won’t be any) corrections. There will be no corrections.

Interrogative form

To construct an interrogative form, you need to move the verb to be to the beginning of the sentence.

There is \there are in interrogative form
	Singular	Plural
Present Simple	Is there..? Is there Anyone there? Is there anyone there?	Are there..? Are there two or three exits? Are there two or three exits?
Past Simple	Was there..? Was there a bottle in the fridge? Was there a bottle in the refrigerator?	Were there..? Were there any losses? Were there any losses?
Future Simple	Will there be..? Will there be a new school in the neighborhood? Will there be a new school in the area?	Will there be..? Will there be more guests here? Will there be any more guests here?

Video lesson on the topic There is \ There are

The topic There is \ There are is explained in sufficient detail and very clearly in the video tutorial on Puzzle English. Let me remind you that on this service for learning English you can not only watch free video lessons, but also go through exercises (composing phrases).

Turnover There is \ There are in Perfect tenses (for advanced level)

Attention: this topic is very difficult, advanced and full of nuances. It is by no means for beginners. I provide a general overview of it for informational purposes only.

This phrase is sometimes used in Perfect tenses, although much less often than in Simple tenses, especially in colloquial speech. To complete the picture, I will add a table of the use of there is \ there are in Perfect. It makes sense to study it only if you already know what it is:, and understand what the features of their meaning are.

As in the above types of tense forms, in constructions like There has been we are talking about an action that took place before the moment of speech, the result of which is relevant at the time of speech.

Affirmative form
	Singular	Plural
Present Perfect	There has been There has been fish in the fridge. There was fish in the refrigerator.	There have been There have been some problems lately. There have been some problems lately.
Past Perfect	There had been There had been and wedding that afternoon at the church. In the afternoon there was a wedding in the church.	There had been There had been two weddings that afternoon at the church. During the day there were two weddings in the church.
Future Perfect	There will have been There will have been a lot of money in the safe. There will be a lot of money in the safe.	There will have been There will have been Anna's letters in the mail. There will be letters from Anna in the mail.
Negative form
	Singular	Plural
Present Perfect	There has been no(hasn’t been a) guest here. There was no guest here.	There has been no\hasn’t been There has been no(hasn’t been any) people in my house. There were no people in my house.
Past Perfect	There had been no\hadn’t been There had been no(hadn’t been a) key in the lock. There was no key in the lock.	There had not been There had been no(hadn’t been any) glasses on the table. There were no glasses on the table.
Future Perfect	There will have been no \ There won’t have been There will have been no(won’t have been any) profit in that. There will be no benefit in this.	There will have been \ There will have been no There will have been no(won't have been any) casualies. There will be no casualties.
Interrogative form
	Singular	Plural
Present Perfect	Has there been..? Has there been any progress with this? Is there any progress on this?	Have there been..? Have there been any obstacles? Were there any obstacles?
Past Perfect	Had there been..? Had there been a wall there? Was there a wall?	Had there been..? Had there been any mistakes? Were there any mistakes?
Future Perfect	Will there have been..? Will there have been help? Will there be help?	Will there have been..? Will there have been any new episodes? Will there be new episodes?

This grammar topic will teach you how to work with popular English constructions there is / there are. Or, in other words, how to say: there is something here, there is something missing there.

There (are) a lot of rules at the airport.– There are a lot of rules at the airport.

There is no stadium in the town.– There isn’t a stadium in the town.

We use this construction when the sentence says that something is / Not is located somewhere. In other words, something is somewhere or something is not somewhere. To do this, in English we use the construction there is / there are.

The word there in this construction will not change under any circumstances. According to the law of the genre, the verb to be will change in number and tense, as we will discuss below.

Here you need to be careful and not confuse the adverb there (there) and part of the construction there is / are. The difference will be visible in context and translation: there, which is included in there is / are, won’t even be translated, it’s just “is.” For example:

There is only one restaurant there. – There (there is) only one restaurant.

The second part of this construction is a verb already known to us "be"– to be in the form is and are (is for singular, are for plural).

There is a cake in the refrigerator. – There is a cake in the refrigerator.

There's a hole in my pocket. – There's a hole in my pocket.

In the last sentence we shortened there is to there's, which is quite typical in spoken English.

There are two men in the room. – There are two men in the room.

There're many mistakes in your test, you must do it over. – There are many errors in your test, you should redo it.(there are = there’re)

Often a student wonders: why can’t I say simply through a verb to be? For example:

Many mistakes are in your test.

It's very simple: such a sentence is grammatically correct, but the speaker will not say so, it will sound less natural to his ear. In addition, the design there is / are is very popular among carriers, so you definitely shouldn’t avoid it.

It is interesting that proposals with there is / are we translate from the end, the construction itself may not be translated at all or translated with the word “is”.

There are many Italian foodstuffs in this shop. – This store has a lot of Italian products.

There are seven days in a week. – There (are) seven days in a week.

Negation

It is a pleasure to work with this construction: to construct a negation we

add the particle not or the word no after is / are

There is not an umbrella in the car. – There is no umbrella in the car.

There isn't any cold water in the refrigerator. – There is no cold water in the refrigerator.

There is no lamp in my son’s room. – There is no lamp in my son's room.

Have you noticed that after there is not there must be an article a or an; after there is no we do not put either an article or any.

There are not two but three kids in their family. – Their family has not two, but three children.

There are n’t problems with this child. – There are no problems with this child.

There are no guests at the party. – There are no guests at the party.

Question

To construct a question you just need to rearrange the words in the construction itself there is / are.

Is there a scarf in the wardrobe? – Is there a scarf in the closet?

Is there a dog in the car? – Is there a dog in the car?

What is there on the table? – What (is) on the table?

Are there letters for me? – Are there any letters for me?

Are there students in the lecture hall? – Are there any students in the audience?

How many days are there in February? – How many days are there in February?

Very often the question arises in sentences where we need to list objects in both singular and plural. What to do in these cases?
The choice of is or are will depend on the first noun immediately following the construction there is / are.

There is one bathroom and two bedrooms in my flat. – My apartment has two bedrooms and one bathroom.

Because "bathroom" in the singular there is the first one, we chose there is.

There are 200 (two hundred) passengers and one air steward on the plane. – The plane has one flight attendant and 200 passengers.

In this sentence "passengers" the plural comes first, so we chose there are.

You can answer briefly:

Are there dogs in the pet-shop? – No, there aren’t. – Are there dogs in the pet store? - No.

Is there a line/queue? – Yes, there is. – Is there a queue? Yes, I have.

Countable and uncountable nouns

First, let us remember that there are such necessary concepts in English as a countable noun and uncountable nouns. A countable noun can be counted piece by piece: book-books, raccoon-raccoons, room-rooms. Accordingly, an uncountable noun cannot be counted piece by piece; examples of such words are: sugar, flour, sand, water

There is only works with singular countable nouns or only with uncountable nouns.

There is a store-room in the flat. – The apartment has a storage room.(example with a singular countable noun).

There is no sugar in my tea. – There is no sugar in my tea(example with an uncountable noun).

That is, we do not say: There are no sugar in my tea.

Accordingly, there are only works with plural countable nouns (well, uncountable nouns simply do not exist in the plural).

There are many rules in the English language. – There are many rules in English.(rule-rules, plural countable noun)

There are no lipsticks in her purse. – There are no lipsticks in her purse.(lipstick-lipsticks, plural countable noun)

Construction a lot of

The construction a lot of – works a lot with both countable and uncountable nouns, but there is one subtlety when using it together with there is / are.

There is a lot of salt in my soup. – There is a lot of salt in my soup.

Even though a lot of is a lot, we do not put there are here because "salt" uncountable noun.

There are a lot of important documents in his safe. – There are many important documents in his safe.

We use there are because “ documents" is a countable noun and is in the plural.

Some/any

An important part of this topic is the indefinite pronouns some and any. These words mean a certain quantity (inexact quantity).

Some is used in affirmative sentences.

Any is used in negative and interrogative sentences.

There is some bread in a bread bin. – There is some bread in the breadbox.
Is there any bread in a bread bin? – Is there any bread in the breadbox?
There isn’t any bread in a bread bin. – There is (no) bread in the breadbox.

There are some letters at the post office. – There are several letters in the mail.
Are there any letters at the post office? – Are there any letters in the mail?
There aren't any letters at the post office. – There are no letters at the post office.

• Some and any work with both countable and uncountable nouns.

Sometimes we may come across small subtleties of translation:

• Some+ uncountable noun = “a little” or depending on the context.

  There is some sand in your shoes. – There's a little sand in your shoes.

• Some+ plural countable noun. number = "several"

  There are some eggs in the refrigerator. – There are several eggs in the refrigerator.

• Some+ countable noun in singular number = "some"

  There is some guy in your office. – There's a guy in your office.

• Any in a negative sentence = “none, none, none”

  There aren't any letters for you. – There are no letters for you.

• Any in an interrogative sentence = “any, any, any / how much”

  Is there any butter at home? – Do you have (any) butter at home?
  Are there any dresses in this shop? – Does this store have any dresses?

As you noticed, we placed the translation of the words any and some in brackets, that is, in the Russian version these words are not mandatory. In the English version they are necessary.

And the last point: no need to consume some / any, if you have a specific subject in the singular and it is countable. In this case you need the article a / an:

There isn't a bike near the house. – There is no bicycle near the house. That is, a specific bike.

If the question arises: why doesn’t the article the go with a specific object, if the object is specific? The answer is simple: after there is Always Only articles a / an are used.

There is a big window in my room. – There is a large window in my room.

Use in other tenses

Of course, we do not only say in the present tense: there are a lot of people there, no problem, etc. In the past, future tense we will also say: there were no problems, there were a lot of people, there will be a lot of questions. If you are already familiar with the topic of modal verbs and tenses: Past Simple, Future Simple, Present Perfect and Past Perfect, then there will be no questions ☺

Since as part of the design there is / are we have a verb (to be in the form is and are) it is logical that it can change in tenses if we need it. Recall that the form there is / there are refers to the Present Simple tense.

If you know how to be works in principle in different tenses, then you will not have problems. And we remind you:

Time	Form to be	Examples
Past Simple	There was/were	There was a hole in my pocket. – There was a hole in my pocket. Were there any problems with your essay? – Were there any problems with your essay? There wasn’t a wallet on my table. – There was no wallet on my table.
Future Simple	There will be	There will be a lesson on Monday. – There will be a lesson on Monday. Will there be a meeting this week? – Will there be a meeting this week? There will be no winners in this war. – There will be no winners in this war.
Present Perfect	There have been / There has been	There have been a lot of money problems this year. – There have been a lot of money problems this year. Have there been many interesting projects recently? – Have there been many interesting projects there recently? There hasn’t been any client today. – There weren't a single customer today.
Past Perfect	There had been (These formulas are rarely used in spoken English)	There had been some of my daughter’s friends when I came home. – When I came home, several of my daughter's friends were there. He told me that there had been no real love in his life. – He told me that there was no true love in his life. Had there been a party already when you arrived? – When you arrived, was there already a party there?

Modal verbs and there is / are

Modal verbs also fit perfectly into the sentence structure with there + be, all the rules are the same, you just need to understand modal verbs and remember that after modals we we don't change to be , but leave it in its original form:

There must be some explanation for his behavior. – There must be an explanation for his behavior.

There should be some law against people like you. – There must be some kind of law against people like you.

There may be a dangerous turn of events. – Events could take a dangerous turn.

Turnover ‘there be’ /‘there is/ there are’, …/ (* Further in the text in the examples the abbreviation “THR” is used) from a grammatical point of view is a deviation from the norm. However, like many other deviations in the English language, it is regularly used in speech. It can be equally used both in oral and written speech, both in informal settings and in formal communication.

The use of this phrase is associated with a number of semantic ones, such as, for example, semantic ones: identification with the impersonal sentence ‘it is ...’, or the adverb /there/; grammatical: incorrect use of forms of the verb ‘be’, adding a verbal compliment to the predicate, etc.

Vs. 'there/there'

What is the difference between the phrase ‘there is/ there are’ and the adverb ‘there’?

‘There’ is often a common adverb of place, answering the question “Where?”, “Where?”, for example:

Are you comfortable there? / Are you comfortable there?

The book is there on the table/ The book is there, on the table.

In this case, the semantic emphasis falls on it, because it reflects the main “intrigue” of the statement.

However, ‘there’ can also act as a relative subject rather than as a place indication. This means that it becomes a pronoun, which nominally takes on the role of the subject, while the semantic subject is positioned as the object of the predicate. A semantic subject can be substituted for 'THR' without affecting grammar or overall meaning. The only thing is that some semantic connotation will be lost. In this turn, the pronoun 'THR' is not stressed and is pronounced casually.

Thus, /THR is/THR are/ is used to introduce new information and focus attention on it.

Vs.'it is'

How does the phrase ‘there is/ there are’ differ from the formal pronoun ‘it’ in the impersonal sentence ‘it is’? To do this, you need to briefly consider the topic and rheme. The theme is a background part that does not provide fundamental information; rhema is a key word (phrase) that plays a decisive role and is emphasized. ‘it’ is a fictitious representative of a logically non-existent subject, or existing somewhere in the context, and the rheme here is what happens to it, or what state it is in, what characteristics it has. Whereas ‘THR’ is a “warning” of the subject, which is semantically (logically) equivalent to the object of the predicate, and the rheme is, as a rule, someone or something. That is, the focus is on presence, presence, perhaps numbers.

Not used with Continuous, as an object or in passive voice (Passive V.)

In fact, the phrase 'there is/ there are' in English is a periphrasis of 'smth is', 'many are', where the verb 'be' appears in its semantic meaning - “to take place”, “to be”, “to be”, “to be present”, “to exist”, “to occur”. That is why it is not used with constructions of the Continuous aspect group (respectively, Perfect Continuous), and with the passive voice. For the same reason, it is not customary to use it with personal pronouns - it would sound like /THR am I/I am/, /THR are they/They are/, which is already implied, and therefore does not carry fundamentally new information, and from a semantic point of view is meaningless.

The rule for using the phrase ‘there is/ there are’

It follows from this that the construction can be used with:

Nouns with dependent words;

In the following constructions (only in active voice):

In all four times;

In the indefinite and perfect aspects.

The relative subject ‘There’ can be used in different tense-aspect constructions. in order to shorten the time, it is usually called simply the phrase ‘there is / there are’. The construction scheme for all constructions is as follows: the pronoun ‘There’ opens the sentence. It is followed by the auxiliary verb ‘be’ in one of its forms, depending on the situation; followed by a noun with dependent words (if any), i.e. noun group.

THR is work to be done/ There is work that needs to be done.

THR will be a party tonight / Today there will be a party.

THR was no damage/ There was no danger.

THR have been two telephone calls/ Two telephone calls have been received.

Turnover ‘there is/there are’ in singular and plural

When a noun group after a verb is in, you need to use the plural form of the verb:

THR are many reasons for this/There are many reasons for this.

THR were two men in the room/There were two people in the room.

We also use plural verbs before phrases denoting relative empirical remarks, such as ‘a number (of)’, ‘a lot (of)’, ‘a few (of)’:

THR were a lot of people camped there.

THR are only a few left/ There are only a few left.

If the noun in the group is singular or uncountable, then the verb is used in the same form:

THR is one point we must add here/ There is one point that we must add here.

THR isn’t enough room in here/ There isn’t enough space here.

The verb is also used in the singular if several objects or persons are mentioned in the sentence, but the first noun following the verb is in the singular. number, or is uncountable:

THR was a man and a woman.

THR was a sofa and two chairs/There was a sofa and two chairs.

Cases of use

We use the phrase ‘there be’ (‘there is/ there are’, ...) when we say:

About the existence or presence of people and objects:

THR are two people who might know what happened/ There are two people who may know what happened.

About something that happened:

THR’s a meeting every week/Meetings are held every week.

THR was a fierce battle/There was a fierce duel.

About number or quantity:

THR are forty of us, I think.

Modal verbs

The phrase ‘there is/there are’ can also be followed by ‘be’, ‘have been’ (in addition to those for the future and the future in the past):

THR could be a problem.

THR should be a change in government/There must be a change in government.

THR can’t have been anybody outside/ Nobody could be on the street.

THR must have been some mistake.

Abbreviations

The phrase 'there is/there are' in English in colloquial speech or an informal situation allows for the abbreviation of the verb 'be' or a modal verb and its adjoining to 'there' through an apostrophe ("'s" - 'is' or 'has', " 're' 'are', ''ll' - 'shall' or 'will', ''ve' - 'have', ''d' - 'had', 'should' or 'would'):

THR's no danger/No danger.

THR'll always be a future for music/There will always be a future for music.

I knew THR’d be trouble/I knew there would be a problem.

THR's been quite a lot of research into it.

I didn’t even know THR’d been a murder/I didn’t even know that a murder had been committed.

‘Appear to be’

Also, in addition to the existential verb 'be' - that is, meaning “to be”, “to happen” - the less unambiguous “seems to be taking place”, “there is a feeling that is happening...” and similar phrases with verbs like 'appear' and 'seem':

THR appears to be a vast amount of confusion on this point.

THR seems to have been some carelessness.

Turnover there + be ( there is / there are) is used when it is necessary to indicate the presence or absence of a person/object in a certain place. There is / There are translated into Russian as “is available”, “is”, “is located”, “exists”.

Scheme of construction of turnover

Sentences with the phrase there is/there are are constructed according to the following scheme:

There is (are) + subject + adverbial place

Sentences with the grammatical phrase there+be mainly indicate the presence/absence of a phenomenon or object in a certain place.

The turnover is used in the following cases

When they want to emphasize the presence or absence of an object, rather than the place in which it is located:

There are many games for children. - There are many games for children.

When they want to emphasize the location of an object in space

There is a student in the classroom. - There is a student in the classroom.

The word there is a theoretical element of this grammatical phrase, and it is not necessary to translate it into Russian. A revolution is considered an introductory particle. If in a sentence the adverbial adverbial place is expressed by the pronoun “there”, then the sentence is translated into English as follows:

There were many children there. - There were a lot of children there.

The phrase there is/there are is not used in answers to the question “where?”, since the answer concerns the location of the object, and not the object itself:

Where is my book? Where's my book?

It is in my bag. It's in my bag.

But if the sentence sounds like:

There is some book in my bag;

then we use turnover -

There is a book in my bag.

Modal verbs with there is / there are

The construction of the phrase also uses modal verbs together with the verb to be:

There must be many interesting books in the library. The library should have many interesting books.

There can be problems for him. He might have problems.

The phrase there + be translates Russian sentences that begin with the words “exist” or “exist” and words that do not indicate space:

There are different school subjects. There are different school subjects.

There are different books for children. There are different books for children.

Also can be used in circulation and other words instead of to be:

to happen,

to exist,

to remain

to come,

to appear

There comes our train. Here comes our train.

There exist different animals. There are different animals.

Construction of interrogative sentences with turnover

If there is a revolution, the verb to be comes first, and after there comes the subject:

Are there books in your bag? Are there books in your bag?

If the word any is used in such a question, then the answer to it will contain the words some (affirmative answer), not any or none (negative answer):

Are there any books in your bag? Are there any books in your bag?

Yes, there are some.

No, there are not any/none.

Negative sentences with a turn are made using the word no, using the negative particle not or the pronoun any.

There is no food for you. There is no food for you.

There isn`t any money in his pocket. There is no money in his pocket.

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The more you begin to appreciate and love your familiar native Russian language. It seems to us that in Russian there are no confusing tenses, no regular/irregular verbs, no articles. Everything is simple and clear. But this, of course, is not true. And the Russian language has its own complex rules and confusing definitions. In this article we will look at the slightly confusing construction there is/are, which is quite unusual because it is at the beginning of a sentence and is usually not translated in any way.

How and when to use there is/there are?

We use this construction when we need to say about location any item. That is, that something (someone) somewhere located. You need to immediately remember that we always put it at first offers. I think you have already guessed that we use there is when we are talking about one subject, and there are when we are talking about several.

We will literally translate the first sentence as follows: "There there is (is) book on the shelf". Of course, in Russian it sounds ugly, and no one talks like that in real life. But at the first stage it is important to understand meaning what we say .

This literal translation will help you speak correctly and, most importantly, understand the logic of this construction. But when you say this phrase many times and there is no need to translate it word for word, then you can move on to a beautiful literary translation: There are two books on the shelf.

Order of words in a sentence
with there is/are

Remember to put “there is/ there are” at the beginning when you talk about the location of something. This will help your interlocutor understand from the very beginning that we are talking about finding something somewhere. In such a sentence, each word is in its specific place. Let's look at the word order in a sentence.

1 place	2nd place	3rd place	4th place
There	be (in the required form)	What (who) is	Where is
There	is	a cat	in the room
There	are	cats	in the street

Negative form c there is/are

The negative form is formed by adding a particle not. It is used when you want to say that something no/wasn't/won't be anywhere. We can cut there is not = there isn't And there are not = there aren't.

Also with the construction there is/ there are the word is often used no (No). But abbreviations in such phrases are not allowed, because not is a particle that can be abbreviated, and no is a word that cannot be abbreviated.

How to ask questions with there is/are?

The construction of questions with this construction follows the standard rules of the English language. To ask a question, just move the words is/are to the beginning of the sentence, before the word there. Let's look at an example of how to turn an affirmative sentence into an interrogative one.

Statement

Question

A positive response will look like this.

At negative answer we add the particle not.

To reinforce this, let's look at another example.

How to ask questions using question words?

With the phrases there is/there are, you can also build sentences using question words. Here are some of them:

• what - what,
• which - which,
• why - why,
• how long - how long,
• when - when.

In such questions, we put these words first, and then the sentence is built as in a simple question.

There is/are in past and future tenses

If you want to talk about something that was or will be somewhere, then for this it is enough to change form of words is/are (verb be). We will look at how this verb changes in great detail in the next article. For now, just remember that to change the tense using the construction there is/are, you need to change the verb.

Since there is/there are is mainly used to say where is this or that object, then you can easily practice using this construction. Take a look around. What do you see? Where are the things you are used to? So, There is...