There is vs There are

In English, “there is” and “there are” are used to talk about things that exist. It uses the verb “to be” with the word “there”. However, what is the difference between there is vs there are?

There is vs There are

“There is” is used for singular countable and uncountable nouns.

Singular Countable Nouns

Countable nouns are individual places, people, and objects which can be counted. Don’t forget to use a/an + noun.^[1]https://7esl.com/countable-and-uncountable-nouns/

• There is a dog in the kitchen.
• There is a letter on the desk.
• There is a car parked in front of the office.

Singular Uncountable Nouns

Uncountable nouns are information, concepts, and materials which cannot be broken down into individual objects to be counted.

• There is milk in the refrigerator.
• There is cheese on the plate.
• There is water in the pool.

Plural Nouns

“There are” is used for plural nouns.

For example:

• There are three cars in the garage.
• There are 20 children in the class.
• There are 50 states in the USA.

Some

We can also use the word “some” with singular uncountable nouns and plural nouns.

Singular Uncountable Nouns

• There is some chocolate on the table. (This means that we don’t know how much chocolate there is exactly)
• There is some money in the bank. (We don’t know how much money is in the bank)

Plural Nouns

• There are some cars in the parking lot. (We don’t know how many cars are in the parking lot)
• There are some t-shirts in the drawer. (We don’t know how many t-shirts are in the drawer)

Contractions for There is vs There are

“There is” becomes “there’s” when it is a contraction.

For example:

• There’s milk in the refrigerator.
• Do you think that there’s a letter on the desk.
• There’s a car parked in front of the office.

However, you don’t contract “there are” (there’re)

Negatives

There are two ways to form a negative with “there is” and “there are”.

Add the word not

• There is not (isn’t) a dog in the house. (singular countable noun)
• There is not (isn’t) a cat in the house. (singular countable noun)

Add the word no

• There is no dog in the house. (singular countable noun)
• There is no cat in the house. (singular countable noun)
• There are no kids in the classroom. (plural noun)

Any

We can also use the word “any” with negative uncountable singular nouns and plural nouns when we are using the word “aren’t”.

For example:

There is not any milk in the refrigerator. (uncountable noun)

There aren’t any kids in the classroom. (plural noun)

Questions

To form a question, change the word order from Subject-verb to verb-subject.

For example:

• There is (singular noun) = Is there a + singular noun?

Is there a dog in the house?

• There is some (uncountable noun) = Is there any + uncountable noun?

Is there any milk in the refrigerator?

• There are (plural noun) = Are there any + plural noun?

Are there any cars in the parking lot?

Short Response to Questions

Instead of answering in a complete sentence, you can answer with a short response when the context is understood.

For example:

Singular

Yes, there is.

No, there is not.

Plural

Yes, there are.

No, there are not.

Practice Exercises