Hay en la Ciudad - There Is and There Are

In the last lesson you learned estar to say where something specific is. This lesson adds the other half of city talk: hay, the word for there is and there are. With estar you point at something specific. With hay, you say something exists.

The trick is that hay is one tiny word that does the work of two in English. Hay un café is "there is a café"; hay tres parques is "there are three parks". Same word, no change.

Hay — One Form for Everything

Hay is invariable. It does not conjugate by person, and it does not change with singular or plural. It is a special form of haber, and for now you only need this one shape.

English	Spanish
There is a café.	Hay un café.
There are cafés.	Hay cafés.
There are three.	Hay tres.
Is there a bar?	¿Hay un bar?
There isn't.	No hay.

The word hay is pronounced like English eye. Single syllable, never stressed on a different part — you just say it.

Indefinite Articles With Hay

When you introduce something for the first time, you almost always use an indefinite article (English a, an, some). Spanish has four of them because they agree with gender and number:

Article	Use	Example
un	masc. singular	hay un café
una	fem. singular	hay una farmacia
unos	masc. plural	hay unos parques
unas	fem. plural	hay unas tiendas

The plural forms unos / unas usually translate as "some" — hay unos turistas en la plaza ("there are some tourists in the square"). With specific numbers you drop the article altogether: hay tres bares, not hay unos tres bares.

A handful of useful patterns:

• ¿Hay una farmacia por aquí? – Is there a pharmacy around here?
• Hay un parque al final de la calle. – There's a park at the end of the street.
• No hay bares en este pueblo. – There aren't any bars in this village.
• Hay unos museos muy buenos en Madrid. – There are some really good museums in Madrid.

Hay vs. Está — Existence vs. Location

This is the contrast worth burning into your brain right now.

Hay introduces something. Está locates something specific.

If the listener doesn't know yet that the thing exists, you use hay. If both of you already know which thing you mean, you use está.

Spanish	English
Hay un café en la plaza.	There's a café in the square.
El café está en la plaza.	The café is in the square.
¿Hay un metro cerca?	Is there a metro nearby?
¿Dónde está el metro?	Where is the metro?
Hay una farmacia en mi calle.	There's a pharmacy on my street.
La farmacia está en mi calle.	The pharmacy is on my street.

Notice the article switch: hay takes un / una; está takes el / la. New thing → indefinite + hay. Known thing → definite + está.

Places in Town

Here's your starter set of city vocabulary. Many of these words contain c before e/i or z, which in Spain is pronounced as a soft "th" sound, like English think. Spaniards call this the theta, and it is one of the clearest markers of Castilian.

Spanish	English	Notes
el café	café
el bar	bar
el restaurante	restaurant
la farmacia	pharmacy	far-MAH-thee-ah (theta)
la panadería	bakery
el supermercado	supermarket
la plaza	square	PLAH-thah (theta)
el parque	park
el metro	metro / subway
el autobús	bus
el banco	bank
la biblioteca	library
el museo	museum
el hospital	hospital
la iglesia	church
el mercado	market

A note on the theta: you will not need to invent it for words you haven't met yet — you'll know it's there because the spelling has ce, ci, or z. Cerveza, gracias, cinco, plaza, farmacia — every one of those carries the theta sound in Spain. Latin American Spanish drops it, which is why Mexican cerveza sounds like "ser-veh-sa" and Madrileño cerveza sounds like "ther-veh-tha".

Practice

Words to Remember

Spanish	English
hay	there is / there are
un / una	a / an
unos / unas	some
el café	café
el bar	bar
la farmacia	pharmacy
la panadería	bakery
el supermercado	supermarket
la plaza	square
el parque	park
el metro	metro
el banco	bank
la biblioteca	library
el museo	museum
la iglesia	church
el mercado	market
por aquí	around here
cerca	nearby

Conversation

Asking for a pharmacy

Turista: Perdona, ¿hay una farmacia por aquí? Excuse me, is there a pharmacy around here?

Vecina: Sí, hay una en la plaza. Yes, there's one in the square.

Turista: Vale, gracias. OK, thanks.

Looking for the metro

María: ¿Dónde está el metro? Where is the metro?

Diego: Está allí, en la esquina. It's over there, on the corner.

María: ¿Y hay un café cerca? And is there a café nearby?

Talking about the neighbourhood

Pablo: ¿Hay supermercado en tu barrio? Is there a supermarket in your area?

Lucía: Sí, hay uno pequeño y un mercado los sábados. Yes, there's a small one and a market on Saturdays.

Pablo: ¡Qué guay! Aquí no hay nada. So cool! Here there's nothing.