Spanish Grammar Guide

Using hay (there is/there are)

In Spanish, we use hay to express either there is or there are. It doesn’t matter if it’s masculine, feminine, singular, or plural:

Hay un piano – There is a piano
Hay una guitarra – There is a guitar
Hay unos pianos – There are some pianos
Hay unas guitarras – There are some guitars

To make a sentence negative, we just place the word no right before hay:

No hay un piano, no hay una guitarra, etc.

We have three options when we talk about things in our house:

Option 1: Hay una cocina grande en mi apartamento. (There is a large kitchen in my apartment.)
Option 2: Tengo una cocina grande en mi apartamento. (I have a large kitchen in my apartment.)
Option 3: Mi apartamento tiene una cocina grande. (My apartment has a large kitchen.)

Example

JOHN: ¿Cuántas sillas hay en tu sala?*

ISABEL: En mi sala hay tres sillas.

J: ¿De qué color son tus sillas?**

I: Mis sillas son negras.

J: ¿Cuántas ventanas tienes en tu apartamento?

I: Tengo ocho ventanas en mi apartamento.

J: ¿Tus ventanas son grandes o pequeñas?

I: Son muy grandes.

J: ¿Tu apartamento tiene armarios?

I: Mi cuarto es un armario.

*We must match cuánto in gender and number when using it with countable nouns (as in how many). 

**It is an idiomatic expression (lit. “Of what color are your chairs?”)



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