How to Say THERE IS/THERE ARE in Brazilian Portuguese
Fernando Nonohay In this post, you will learn the most common way of saying there is/there are in Brazilian Portuguese.
In Brazilian Portuguese it's often important to distinguish the difference between formal/informal speech and formal/informal writing. This is particularly true when learning there is/there are in Brazilian Portuguese.
Using the verb HAVER
One way of saying there is/there are in Brazilian Portuguese is há, which is the third person singular of the verb haver, used impersonally:
Examples:
Há um banco nessa rua?
Is there a bank in this street?
Há muitos livros nessa biblioteca.
There are many books in this library.
However, the verb haver is almost always only used in more formal speech and writing.
Using the verb TER
In everyday speech and informal writing the verb ter is used when we want to express there is/there are in Brazilian Portuguese. You might have already learned that ter means to have and while that is correct, this verb can also mean there is/are. In this case, we use always use it impersonally and in the singular (conjugated with você/ele/ela): tem - even we are referring to more than one thing (there are). So let’s see these same examples but with the verb ter.
Examples:
Is there a bank in this street?
There are many books in this library.
If you want to use the negative – there isn’t/aren’t, all you need to do is to add the word não in front of tem.
Examples:
Não tem muitos livros nessa biblioteca.
There aren’t many books in this library.
- Tem um banco nessa rua?
- Is there a bank in this street?
- Não, não tem.
- No, there isn’t.
Examples in other tenses:
Tinha uma fila enorme no banco!
There was a huge queue in the bank!
Vai ter churrasco no sábado.
There will be a barbecue on Saturday.
Teve um acidente de carro na frente da minha casa ontem.
There was a car accident in front of my house yesterday.