Impersonal existential hay: there is / there are
Can express existence with hay and distinguish hay from estar
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¿Hay un supermercado cerca de aquí?
Is there a supermarket near here?
No hay leche en la nevera.
There is no milk in the fridge.
Hay muchas personas en la plaza.
There are many people in the square.
Зверніть увагу на виділені частини. Що у них спільного?
English needs two forms, "there is" and "there are". Spanish has one word for both: hay (pronounced like "eye"; the h is silent). It comes from the verb haber and does not change for singular or plural.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Hay un gato en el jardín. | There is a cat in the garden. |
| Hay tres gatos en el jardín. | There are three cats in the garden. |
| No hay leche. | There is no milk. / We're out of milk. |
| ¿Hay un cajero por aquí? | Is there a cash machine around here? |
| Hay mucha gente en la playa. | There are a lot of people on the beach. |
A question is the same word with rising intonation: ¿Hay pan? - "Is there any bread?" Notice that Spanish has no word for "any" here, and that the negative simply puts no in front: No hay pan.
This is the real difficulty. Hay tells you that something exists or is present, and introduces it as new information. Estar tells you where a known, specific thing is.
| HAY: something exists | ESTAR: where a known thing is |
|---|---|
| Hay un museo en el pueblo. | El museo está en la plaza. |
| There is a museum (a museum, new to the conversation). | The museum is on the square (the one we both know about). |
| with un / una, numbers, mucho, algún, or no article | with el / la, names, mi / tu, este |
So a tourist in Granada asks ¿Dónde está la Alhambra? (there is only one) but ¿Hay una farmacia cerca? (any pharmacy will do). *Hay la Alhambra and *¿Dónde hay el baño? sound wrong because a definite thing is already identified; it needs está.
English uses "there's" to point at something you can see: "There's the bus!" That is not about existence, and Spanish uses ahí + estar: ¡Ahí está el autobús! Likewise "There you are!", when you finally spot a friend, is ¡Ahí estás!, not a sentence with hay.
Followed by que and an infinitive, hay means "one has to", a general obligation with no particular person: Hay que reservar mesa los sábados. - "You need to book a table on Saturdays." Para entrar en el Prado hay que hacer cola.
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Вправи для практики¿Hay un supermercado cerca de aquí?
Is there a supermarket near here?
Hay + indefinite article (un) for asking about existence. If asking about a specific one, use estar.
No hay leche en la nevera.
There is no milk in the fridge.
No hay = there isn't / there aren't. Hay is the same for singular and plural.
Hay muchas personas en la plaza.
There are many people in the square.
Hay + quantity (muchas) + noun. Same 'hay' for plural — no change to *'han' or *'son'.
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