How to Use the Form HAY in Spanish

Today we’ll be talking about the verb HABER, and in particular about its form HAY that corresponds to the English forms THERE IS and THERE ARE, so it’s used in both singular and plural.

Here’s an example in singular:

¿Qué hay sobre la mesa?	What is there on the table?
Sobre la mesa hay un lápiz.	On the table there is a pencil.
Hay un lápiz sobre la mesa.	There is a pencil on the table.

As you can see we can use it either at the beginning of the sentence or after the locative adverbial.

And here are some examples in plural:

Sobre el escritorio hay lápices.	There are pencils on the desk.
Bajo la silla hay unos gatos.	There are some cats under the chair.
En el armario hay abrigos.	There are coats in the closet.
En la clase hay veinte alumnos.	There are twenty students in the class.

And some more examples:

En la caja hay cosas importantes.	There are important things in the box.
En el armario hay unas bufandas inglesas y griegas.	There are some English and Greek scarves in the closet.
En la calle hay coches americanos y alemanes.	There are American and German cars in the street.
Bajo el escritorio hay cuatro gatos blancos.	There are four black cats under the desk.

Questions with the Form HAY

Questions are very easy to make. You just put the verb in initial position like so:

¿Hay un perro bajo la silla?	Is there a dog under the chair?
¿Hay una ventana en la pared?	Is there a window in the wall?
¿Hay un teléfono?	Is there a telephone?
¿Hay toallas?	Are there towels?

 

How much … is there?

We can use hay to ask about quantity:

el tiempo	¿Cuánto tiempo hay?	How much time is there?
el azúcar	¿Cuánto azúcar hay?	How much sugar is there?
el dinero	¿Cuánto dinero hay?	How much money is there?
la leche	¿Cuánta leche hay?	How much milk is there?

 

How many … are there?

With count nouns it looks like this:

los alumnos	¿Cuántos alumnos hay?	How many students are there?
las mujeres	¿Cuántas mujeres hay?	How many women are there?
las cajas	¿Cuántas cajas hay?	How many boxes are there?
los días	¿Cuántos días hay?	How many days are there?
los españoles	¿Cuántos españoles hay?	How many Spaniards are there?

 

Negative Sentences with the Form HAY

In order to negate the verb all we have to do is put no in front of it. So NO HAY means THERE ISN´T or THERE AREN´T:

No hay dinero.	There isn´t any money.
No hay problema.	(There is) no problem.

And here are some more examples of negative sentences:

No hay mucho queso en la nevera.	There isn´t much cheese in the fridge.
No hay muchas pizarras en la escuela.	There aren’t many blackboards in the school.
No hay mucho tiempo.	There isn’t much time.
No hay muchas ventanas verdes.	There aren’t many green windows.