There is a great concert!
Is there a concert you want to take your crush to? Or maybe a soccer match? What about the new movie of your favorite actor? There are interesting events for you, your friends or your crush that we can’t miss!
Es Read and listen to the next conversation between Dave and his crush Sue. Pay attention to the phrases in bold.
Lee y escucha la siguiente conversación entre Dave y su crush Sue. Pon atención a las frases en negritas.
Dave: Hi, Sue! Guess what?
Sue: Hello, Dave. What?
Dave: Are you ready?
Sue: Yes, tell me please.
Dave: There are two great concerts on Saturday!
Sue: Two concerts? Wow!
Dave: Yes, Arctic Monkeys in the Opera House and The Killers in the Auditorium!
Sue: But, I can’t go… There is a basketball match and I have tickets!
Dave: Oh! Maybe after the match, the concert starts at 10.
Sue: Ok, after the match sounds good. The match ends at 9:00.
Dave: Excellent, I’ll pick you up at 9:30!
Sue: Sure!
Observe the sentences in bold in the conversation:
There are two great concerts.
There is a basketball match.
In the sentences, There is and There are, are expressions we use to mention the events available to attend.
Singular
There is
a concert.
a basketball match.
a party in my house.
an art exhibition.
an open class at school.
Plural
There are
two concerts.
basketball matches.
parties in my house.
art exhibitions.
open classes at school.
Use articles a/an with There is because they mean one.
There is a party.
(one party)
There is an art exhibition.
(one art exhibition)
There is party.
(you need an article a/an to refer to one party)
There is art exhibition.
(you need an article a/an to refer to one art exhibition)
Don’t use articles a/an with There are because a/an are singular and There are is plural. When you use There are it is possible to use numbers or just plurals.
There are two concerts.
There are parties in my house.
There are a two concerts.
(don’t use a/an because they mean one and this sentence is plural= two concerts)
There are a parties in my house.
(don’t use a/an because they mean one and this sentence is plural= some parties)
For questions using There is and There are just change the order of the words, look:
Singular
Plural
And the answers could be Yes or No:
Is there a party? Yes, there is / No, There isn’t.
Are there two concerts? Yes, there are / No, there aren’t.
For short positive answers do not use contractions:
Singular
Is there a festival?
Yes, there is.
Plural
Are there festivals?
Yes, there are.
For short negative answers you can use contractions:
Singular
Is there a soccer match?
No, there is not.
or
No, there isn’t.
Plural
Are there soccer matches?
No, there are not.
or
No, there aren´t.