There is/ There are

There is e there are is like há or existe(m) in Portuguese. We use THERE IS for singular things, person, or situation. We use THERE ARE for plural things, people, or situations.

Check the examples:

Extended form	Contracted form	Examples	Translation Port.
there is há, existe	there’s	There is a man in the car. There’s a fly in your soup. There is a new store here.	Há um homem no carro. Há uma mosca na sua sopa. Há uma loja nova aqui.
there are há, existe	—	There are 40 students in my class. There are two dogs in the house. There are 10 people in the family.	Há 40 alunos na minha classe. Há dois cães na casa. Há 10 pessoas na família.

Observe that in Portuguese we say “Tem um homem no carro” or “Tem 40 alunos na minha classe” intead of using “há”. In English we cannot use the verb have in this case. Have, as a verb, indicates possession.

“There is a man in the car.” And not “Has a man in the car.”

“There are 40 students in my class.” And not “Have 40 students in my class.”

THE NEGATIVE:

Affirmative	Negative (long form)	Negative (contracted form 1)	Negative (contracted form 2)
There is	There is not	There’s not	There isn’t
There are	There are not	—	There aren’t

Examples:

Affirmative	Negative
There is a man in the car.	There is not a man in the car. [Não há um homem no carro.]
There’s a fly in your soup.	There’s not a fly in your soup. [Não há uma mosca na sua sopa.]
There is a new store here.	There isn’t a new store here. [Não há uma loja nova aqui.]
There are 40 students in my class.	There are not 40 students in my class. [Não há 40 alunos na minha classe.]
There are two dogs in the house	There aren’t two dogs in the house. [Não há dois cachorros na casa.]
There are 10 people in the family.	There aren’t 10 people in the family. [Não há 10 pessoas na família.]

 

THE INTERROGATIVE 

Affirmative	Interrogative
There is	Is there?
There are	Are there?

 Examples:

AFFIRMATIVE	INTERROGATIVE
There is a man in the car. [Há um homem no carro.]	Is there a man in the car? [Há um homem no carro?]
There’s a fly in your soup. [Há uma mosca na sua sopa.]	Is there a fly in your soup? [Há uma mosca na sua sopa?]
There are two dogs in the house [Há dois cachorros na casa.]	Are there two dogs in the house? [Há dois cachorros na casa?]
There are 10 people in the family. [Há 10 pessoas na família.]	Are there 10 people in the family? [Há 10 pessoas na família?]

§  SHORT ANSWERS

QUESTION	short answer (AFF.)	short answer (NEG.)
Is there a man in the car?	Yes, there is.	No, there is not. No, there’s not. No, there isn’t.
Is there a fly in your soup?	Yes, there is.	No, there is not. No, there’s not. No, there isn’t.
Are there two dogs in the house?	Yes, there are.	No, there are not. No, there aren’t.
Are there 10 people in the family?	Yes, there are.	No, there are not. No, there aren’t.

§  Any is a common word used in questions with there is/are. In this case it means “algum(a)”:

Are there any apples in the refrigerator? (Há alguma maçã na geladeira?)

Yes, there are. (Sim, há.)

No, there isn’t (any). (Não, não ha (nenhum).)

§  We use there isn’t any or there aren’t any to give the idea of “nenhum”, zero. Check the examples:

There isn’t any milk in the refrigerator. (Não há (nenhum) leite na geladeira.)

There aren’t any apples in the basket. (Não há nenhuma maçã no cesto.)

Learning through Reading

Students usually come to me and ask how they could improve their English, especially their vocabulary.  Reading guys, this is the key. The more you read, the better your vocabulary and consequently your ability to think in English.

The idea is to read as often as you can. Reading might not be the most interesting activity for some people, but it’s surely a wonderful tool when talking about learning a second/foreign language.  This could be the news, short stories or novels, texts from your textbook, internet content, and so forth.

The important is to choose something you like more, and also that is not too difficult in order not to make this a terrible habit.

Another extremely important tip is not to look up for every single word which is new to you. Many may be new, but if you concentrate on what you already know, you’ll surely understand a lot. Focus on what you know and then your brain will be able to find out what the other words mean. It’ll work very well, especially if you chose an interesting reading for you.

Read between the lines.