In this blog, we’ll have a look at two important phrases which are used on a daily basis. One of them is the expression: There is and the other one is the plural form There are.
There is – Es gibt
The expression “Es gibt” is always followed by the accusative case. The object is either singular or plural.
For example:
Es gibt kein besseres Auto. – There is no better car.
Or: Es gibt keine besseren Eltern – There are no better parents.
“Es gibt” is also used when describing things to do with the more general natural events:
For example: Es gibt sicher ein Gewitter. – It’s definitely going to thunder.
As in English, when you’re using the phrase “Es gibt” in a sentence, the words switch position.
For example: Was gibt es für Läden? – What kind of shops are there?
There are – Es sind
The expression “es sind” is always used in the plural form and is followed by the nominative case.
For example: Es sind nicht viele Kunden da. – There are hardly any customers there.
“Es sind” can also go into the past tense with “sind” changing to the past tense form “war”.
For example:
Es war kein Lehrer in der Schule. – There were no teachers at school.
Es war einmal ein Prinz…. – Once upon a time there was a prince…
Tip: The expression “es gibt” is used more often in the German language than “es sind”. In most cases “es gibt” can be used instead of “es sind”, but it can affect the sentence structure.
For example:
Es sind nicht viele Kunden da or Es gibt nicht viele Kunden.
In the above example, you cannot use da with es gibt as the sentence in itself is accusative and is therefore already talking about the main object of the sentence. When you use es sind, you are just introducing the sentence subject (viele Kunden), therefore you still need to specify where you are talking about (da).