There are a lot of grammatical structures and phrases in the English language that have no analogues in the Russian language. But don't despair. The main thing is to delve into the essence of such grammatical phenomena, understand them, memorize them, and the language will be given to you easily and simply. One of the revolutions that we will talk about today is the design There is/are-its plural. You will learn why it is needed, how and where to use it. How does the there is construct work?

What is “There is” needed for?

There is translated as “there is, there is, there is.” With it, you can easily and quickly list what you want: objects in the room, furniture in the house, trees and flowers in the garden, food on the table, etc.

If the objects we are talking about are singular, then after there we use is. For example:

• There is a lamp on my writing table. — There is a lamp on my desk.

If the objects we mention in plural, then together with there we use are:

• There are some books on my bookshelf. — There are several books on my bookshelf.

This phrase is usually found at the beginning of a sentence. But this is not necessary; it can be in the middle of the phrase:

• In the classroom there is a map of Great Britain. — There is a map of Great Britain in the classroom.

We use the design easily and simply!

So, we already know the rule, now let's watch this turnover in action. Let's see how this turnover behaves in short descriptions.

Imagine that you need to talk about your room in English. Using our design, this can be done something like this:

My room is not very big, but it is light and very cozy. There is a big window in my room. There is a bed in my room. There is a table and a chair. In the corner there is a bookshelf with some books. I like my room very much. — My room is not big, but it is bright and very cozy. There is a large window in my room. There is a bed. There is a table and a chair. In the corner there is a bookshelf with several books. I like my room.

Of course, this description can be diluted with colors and sizes of objects, and their exact location. But the grammatical structure will help you name and list objects and the furnishings of your room. You just need to remember in what number you use nouns.

Let's move on to another description. Suppose you need to tell about your city, what it is like, what it has, what institutions, etc.

My town is very beautiful. There are a lot of buildings in my town. In the Main Street there is a school, a post-office, a bank. On our square there is a monument. Near the square there is a park. There is a museum in my town. We love our town very much. - My town is very beautiful. There are many buildings in my city. There is a school, post office and bank on the main street. There is a monument on our square. There is a park near the square. There is also a museum in my city. We love our city very much.

As you noticed, there is no analogue of such a construction in the Russian language, but it does not present any difficulties. Everything is quite simple.
Description and listing of objects using the construction there is

Let's practice ourselves!

So, you have already become acquainted with the new English expression, now let's do the exercises. We offer you several tasks in which this grammatical phrase is present. These exercises will help you consolidate your acquired knowledge and become more familiar with this design.

Use the construction in singular or plural:

There _____ some milk in the bottle. There _____ an orange in the refrigerator. There _____ five chicks and a hen in the yard. There _____ a big window to the right of the door. There ______ a blue arm-chair at the door. _____ there three cups and three saucers on the coffee-table? ____ there is a carpet on the wall? There _____ two cups of coffee on the table.

Paste There is / There are:

Some fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator

A cake on the plate

Some jam in the fridge

Some spices in the cupboard

Some juice in the glass

Two cups of coffee on the coffee-table.

Translate the sentences into English:

• There is salt on the table
• There are some fruits in the refrigerator
• There are many flowers in our garden
• There is a TV in the living room
• There is a carpet on the floor in the bedroom
• There are curtains on the window.

We hope that these exercises will help you in learning this design. We wish you good luck and see you again!

The construction there is (are) in the present tense. Rule. Example

Location design there is (are) refers to the most common constructions in English grammar.

Construction there is (are) is used when we want to say that a certain object is in a specific place.

EXAMPLE. There is a cat on the table.

In English this phrase implies the following meaning:

On this lies on the table some kind cat.

(i.e. the table is specific (this one, mine), and this is the first time I’ve seen a cat :)

General view of the construction there is (are) in the present tense

Pay attention to the articles highlighted in blue:

article a means that I have not seen this OBJECT before (some kind of cat)

article the means that this PLACE is familiar to me (this table, my table, etc.)

1. Affirmative sentences with the construction there is (are):

There is+ a + noun (units) + place (its location)
There are+ noun (plural) + place (of their location)

EXAMPLES
There is a cat in the tree. - On this tree (yes) some kind cat.
There are two cats in the tree. - On this tree two some cats.

Design there is (are) translated as there is, is located

• Verb is (are) in this construction you can NOT translate or use other verbs when translating, indicating location, for example: sitting, hanging, lying etc.

EXAMPLE. There is a cat in the tree. - Can be translated as On this tree is sitting cat.

• In this construction the word there has lost its original meaning there.

2. Translation of a sentence with there is (are)

The translation of a sentence with this construction must begin with a word that answers the question Where?(usually it comes at the end of the sentence).

EXAMPLE

3. Interrogative sentences with the construction there is (are)

EXAMPLE
There is a problem. – Is is there a problem?

EXAMPLES
1) — Is there a problem? - There is a problem?

- Yes, there is.- Yes.

- No, there isn't. No.

2) Are there books in your bag? — Are there any books in your briefcase?

- Yes, there are. - Yes.

or
- No, there aren’t. - No.

3) What is there in the room? - What is in this room?

— There is furniture in the room. - IN this the room has furniture.

4. Negative sentences with the construction there is (are)

Most often appears in negative sentences no(translated in this case as No).

EXAMPLE

Note 1.
If after the design there is there are two or more words, then the linking verb BE usually agrees with the first of them.

EXAMPLES
There is a lamp and some pencils on the table.
There are some pencils and a lamp on the table.

Note 2.
If a plural noun is preceded by a lot of, then the verb is used in the plural.

EXAMPLES
There are a lot of books on the table.

5. Forms of the construction there is (are) in simple tenses

1. There is (are)- in present time
2. There was (were)- in the past time
3. There will be- in the future tense

6. A poem with the construction there is (are):

This is the Key of the Kingdom.
In that Kingdom there is a city;
In that city there is a town;
In that town there is a lane;
In that lane there is a yard;
In that yard there is a house;
In that house there is a room;
In that room there is a table;
On that table there is a basket;
In that basket there are some flowers.
Flowers in the basket, Basket on the table,
Table in the room, Room in the house,
House in the yard, Yard in the lane,
Lane in the street, Street in the town,
Town in the city, City in the Kingdom.
Of that Kingdom this is the Key.

7. Exercises for practicing the construction there is (are) in the present tense

In an affirmative sentence construction there is (are) has one of three options:

1. There is an apple on the apple tree.
2. There are three (many/some) apples on the apple tree.
3. There is some milk in the glass.

In design there is / are the noun may be preceded by a DETERMINER (functional word, e.g. the indefinite article (an, a), (three), quantity indicators (many, some) and their derivatives).

EXPLANATION

1. An indefinite article is placed before a singular noun a (an): an apple

2. Place before a plural noun cardinal number / many / some: three apples - three apples , many apples - a lot of apples, some apples - several apples.

3. Before uncountable noun is put indefinite quantity indicator some: some milk - a little milk.

Exercise 1. Rephrase the sentences using the construction there is or there are

SAMPLE The cherries are in the basket. => There are some cherries in the basket.

1. The newspapers are on the table. =>
2. The flowers are in the vase =>
3. The cheese is in the refrigerator. =>
4. The story by A. Christie is in the book. =>
5. The kitten is under the bed. =>

Grammar comment.

Question. How do the sentences differ: There is a bird in the tree. and The bird is in the tree? — Answer. Translation.

There is a bird in the tree. — Please note that when using the design there is, we're talking about about a certain subject ( a bird), which is located in a specific place (in the tree) and the translation will be - Sits on (this) tree ( some kind) bird.

But if we rephrase the sentence, its meaning will change!

The bird is in the tree. — This sentence refers to a specific bird ( the = this), which is located in a specific place (in the tree) and the translation will be - This bird on the tree.

Now it remains to understand what the difference is between the words “some” and “this”...

Exercise 2. Translate into English using the construction there is or there are

1. There is tea in a cup. => There is some tea in the cup.
2. There are sweets in a vase. =>
3. There are gifts in the box. =>
4. There is food on the table. =>
5. There is porridge in the plate. =>

The further you delve into learning English, 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 enough of 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.

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 is subject to standard rules in English. 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 affirmative proposal make a question.

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...

It is difficult to overestimate the role played by the construction there is/there are in the English language. Before starting, we advise you to memorize prepositions of place. We will talk about the arrangement of things in different rooms or parts of them, so we will need words such as in, at, in front of, etc..

The special word order for the English language is preserved in these sentences. Let's start with affirmative form, since the order of words in an English sentence is usually judged by it.

Usually, the construction there is (are) itself comes first, then the object whose location needs to be described. The sentence completes, with the exception of some cases, the adverbial adverbial place. Less often, the adverbial adverbial place is placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Here are simple classic examples:

There is a bird in the cage.

Since a direct translation will look a little ridiculous (there is a bird in a cage), it is better to translate this sentence from the end. "There's a bird sitting in a cage." The word “sits” is also “invented”, and the sentence will sound completely Russian.

There are birds in the cages.

“Birds are sitting in cages.” Most likely, you and I went to a pet store.

According to the rules, when in one sentence we describe several different objects or their groups, the placement of the there is / there are constructions depends on the number of the first mentioned objects. Examples:

There is a table, two chairs, and three armchairs in the room. The room has a table, two chairs and three armchairs.

There are two chairs, three armchairs, and a table. The room has two chairs, three armchairs and a table.

Negations

Making sentences with the construction there is are negative is as easy as shelling pears. It is necessary after one of the forms of the verb be (that is, is, are) to put the words no or not, which express negation.

Language learners sometimes worry about what to give them. We hasten to reassure you: there is practically no difference, except perhaps ‘ no’ makes the denial a little stronger. It stands out more with its voice. One nuance - after the word “ no» article ‘a’ is not used. Examples:

There is not a brick house in the area. There is no brick house in the area. There is no brick house in the area.

There are not any brick houses in the area. There are no brick houses in the area. There are no brick houses in the area. In a sentence with not, the negative pronoun any is often used.

Questions

Interrogative sentences differ in word order, and in them, as in negatives, an indefinite pronoun is used any Unlike some in affirmative sentences. Examples:

Is there petrol in the tank? Is there gasoline in the tank?

Are there any nails in the box? Are there any nails in the box?

Conversational forms

We considered only the classic full forms of sentences with there is/ are. It is very important to note that in spoken English it is preferable to use shortened forms of affirmative or negative sentences. Examples:

There's an apple in the vase. There is an apple in the vase.

There aren't any apples in the vase. There are no apples in the vase.

There isn’t an apple in the vase. There's no apple in the vase. There is no apple in the vase.

Table

Now let's work with a traditional table. We think that it will not be difficult to supplement it with your own examples. Use dictionaries more actively. Use an internet search. First, you can write the sentences given in this article into the table.

Many people faced with English language, do not fully understand this design. There is\There are. IN best case scenario a person remembers several phrases like: “There are a lot of theaters in Moscow” or “There are 4 rooms in my flat: bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom.” And of course, everyone learns that if a sentence contains the construction there is\there are, this sentence is translated into Russian, starting from the end: “There are many theaters in Moscow” “There are 4 rooms in my apartment: a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom.” This is where the knowledge of this design usually ends, while its capabilities are truly much greater.

So the design there is\there are allows us to describe objects that are somewhere. In Russian this is translated by the words “lies” “stands” “is” “hangs” “is (is)” somewhere.

there is\there are can be placed either at the beginning of a sentence or at middle(more difficult case). For example, let’s take two topics: “Food” and “Interior items, furniture.”

• At the beginning of a sentence, in affirmative sentences: There are a lot of books in the bookcase.— There are a lot of books in the bookcase. Instead of the words a lot of - a lot, you can substitute a certain amount, for example, 56. There are fifty-six books in the bookcase. You can substitute different adjectives to describe these very books: There are many different kinds of books in the bookcase.— There’s a lot in the bookcase different books (different types books). Further, separated by a colon, there may be a listing of these same types: detective stories, science fiction, fantasy, books for children... etc. Or there may not be a transfer
• In the middle of a sentence, in a special question. How many kind of books are there in the bookcase?- First there is a special question - What kind of books, then, as always, the auxiliary verb (as usual in questions) are + there, and then it is specified where exactly - in the bookcase?
• In the middle of an affirmative sentence. When it is said that someone is somewhere: How many people there are in the street! - How many people (are) on the street!

The design itself:

Affirmative: There is \There are + what? Who? (subject) + where.

• There are bedrooms in the house.- In the house There is bedrooms.
• There is an armchair in the room.- In the room costs armchair. In the room There is armchair.

Also, there is \ there are may not be translated into Russian at all. That is, it is implied that the object is located somewhere. There are twenty students in the classroom - There are 20 students in the class.(It is clear that they ARE there if they are IN the class)

• Grammar.

Everything is clear here: we focus on the object that is located somewhere. If there is only one item, put there is , if there is more than one item, put there are.

1. There is a big nice bed in my room. — In my room (is, is, is) a large, good bed.

There is one bed, which means IS.

2. There are many flowers in the vase - There are many flowers in the vase.

There are a lot of flowers, which means ARE.

Prepositions of place are also often used with there is\ there are.

under- under

behind- behind

opposite- against

on- on (the surface of something)

in- in (inside something)

by\next to\near- near, near, next to.

There is some sugar in my tea - I have sugar in my tea.

There are two apples next to the vase. — There are 2 apples near the vase.

There is a street. There is a big house in the street. There is a long iron fence opposite the house. There is a long road between a fence and a house. There are a lot of leaves on the road because it is autumn. There are a few trees at the end of the road.- This is the street. Standing on the street big house. Opposite the house there is an iron fence. There is a road between the fence and the house. There are a lot of leaves on the road because it is autumn. There are several trees at the end of the road.

Tense forms of the verb to be in there is/there are!!!:

Present Indefinite: there is/there are – there is, located;

Past Indefinite: there was/there were – was, was;

Future Indefinite: there will be (one form for plural and singular) – will be located;

Present Perfect: there has been/there have been– was, was;

Past Perfect: there had been (one form for plural and singular) - was, was;

Let's take some picture where objects are located in space, and try to describe it using this design.

There is a large comfortable living room in the house. There is a big wooden table in the middle of the room. There is a nice brown fur carpet on the floor. There are two sofas in the room. There are light pillows on the sofas. There are a few pictures on the walls above the sofas. There is a vase on the sofa table between the sofa and an armchair with some flowers in it. There is a white floor lamp near it. There are two caps and a teapot on the table.

The house has a large comfortable living room. There is a large wooden table in the center of the room. There is a beautiful wool rug on the floor. There are 2 sofas in the room. There are light pillows on the sofas. Several paintings hang on the walls above the sofas. Between the sofa and the chair on the table there is a vase of flowers. There is a large floor lamp next to her. There are two cups and a teapot on the table.

You can continue ad infinitum and even describe objects and their locations in even more detail. You can describe it by color, size, material of manufacture, your assessment (beautiful, dirty, attractive, ugly, comfortable, etc.), pattern, and many other characteristics.

• Interrogative sentences + answer to general question. Is\ Are are placed at the beginning of the sentence.

Are are there nice pictures on the wall? Yes, there are.

Is is there any sugar in your tea? — Do you have sugar in your tea? Yes, there is

• Negative sentences.

They are built in two ways: There is - There are

1. Using the verb to be + NOT: There is not(isn’t) any cheese in the refrigerator. - There is no cheese in the refrigerator. There aren't any nice clothes in the store. — There are no beautiful clothes in the store (Remember that clothes are units)
2. Using the negative particle NO (can be used in the sense of “not at all”): There is no sugar at home. Let's go to get some. “Not a grain of sugar at home.” Shall we go buy it?

Instead of NOT ANY you can use NO: There is no money in my pockets - I have no money in my pockets.

How they are built and already written in topics of the same name. I won’t repeat myself, just follow the links and take a look. The schemes are the same, only the words change.

There is= There's - short form. There are - short form No!

Various examples:

• There is a letter on your desk. — There is a letter on the desk.
• There are some people in the office. — There are several people in the office.
• Look! There is a beautiful rainbow in the sky. - Look! There is a beautiful rainbow in the sky.
• There are two parks in this town. — There are two parks in the city.
• Are there any pens in the bag? — Are there handles in the bag?
• There aren't any pens in the bag. — There are no handles in the bag.
• There are no pens in the bag. — There are no handles in the bag.