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Use there + be to say that a person or thing exists, is available, or is present somewhere.
Overview
Use there + be to say that a person or thing exists, is available, or is present somewhere.
Form and rules
Use there is with one singular noun and there are with plural nouns in the present.
Use there was with one singular noun and there were with plural nouns in the past.
Make negatives with there isn't/aren't and there wasn't/weren't.
Make questions by moving be before there: Is there...? Are there...? Was there...? Were there...?
Use any commonly in negative and question forms: Are there any cafés? There aren't any taxis.
A closer look
Use there + be to introduce the existence or presence of something. The form of be normally agrees with the following noun phrase.
Use there is/was with singular nouns and there are/were with plural nouns. Questions invert be and there: Is there...? Were there...?
Examples
There is a supermarket near my house.
There are two bathrooms upstairs.
There wasn't a meeting yesterday.
Were there many people at the party?
There aren't any clean cups.
Common mistakes
A plural noun normally takes are.
Questions with there + be invert the verb; they do not use did.
Ready to practise?
The test combines multiple choice, gap completion, error correction, and sentence building so students have to recognise and produce the grammar, not simply reread the rule.