grammar.verbs.haber-hay
Hay: there is, there are
Hay expresses existence and never changes for plural: hay un café, hay muchos cafés. Other tenses: había, hubo, habrá — always singular.
grammarA1v0.1.0
Erklärung
Hay (from haber) introduces things whose existence is new information: hay un problema, ¿hay wifi? It pairs with indefinites and numbers, never with el/la: hay un banco, not *hay el banco.
It stays singular in every tense: había tres personas, hubo problemas, va a haber cambios. Saying *habían tres personas is extremely common but non-standard.
Beispiele
Hay dos farmacias en esta cuadra.
There are two pharmacies on this block.
There are two pharmacies on this block.
Region: global
No había nadie en la oficina.
There was nobody at the office.
There was nobody at the office.
Region: global