Many students confuse the form hay (from the verb haber) and the form está (from the verb estar), which are two clearly different things. The form hay expresses existence, while the form está expresses location. Examples:

If I say “hay un parque”, I am saying that “a park exists”, but when I say “el parque está cerca de mi casa”, I am specifying its location. However, sometimes we say something like this:

In reality, what we are saying is:

Now let’s look at another aspect. In English, we differentiate singular and plural. Examples:

There is a park. There are two parks.

Some languages, such as Spanish, French and German, use the same verb form in singular and plural in these cases:

This creates errors, especially in the past and in the future, because English-speaking students tend to think that there must be a plural. Examples:

Remember that you can read the novel that complements this blog, which I am writing alongside these grammar posts, where you can see examples in context of what we are explaining:

→ “Están en una pizzería en Brighton”.

About your teacher
Bachelor’s degree in Literature (University of Buenos Aires). Spanish and Literature teacher. Researcher and author of Los premios Nobel de literatura. Una lectura crítica (University of Seville). More than 30 years’ experience teaching Spanish to international students.
One-to-one lessons via Zoom.

Über die Lehrerin
Abschluss in Literaturwissenschaft (Universität Buenos Aires). Lehrerin für Spanisch und Literatur. Forscherin und Autorin des Buches Los premios Nobel de literatura. Una lectura crítica (Universität Sevilla). Über 30 Jahre Erfahrung im Unterricht von Spanisch als Fremdsprache.
Einzelunterricht über Zoom.