| 8.20 difference between hay and estar |
The Spanish hay is a remainder of times when haber was a not only a modal verb when forming compound tenses but a full verb (to own). Hay nowadays has the meaning of there is/are. Hay has only one conjugation = hay.
| hay = there is |
| hay = there is
/ there are |
|
 |
Hay mucha gente en la calle. = There are many people on the street. |
Since there is has also in some sense something to do with location there is the possibility to mix hay with estar. Actually sometimes you can use both sometimes not.
|
Hay zanahorias en el refrigerador. = There are carrots in the fridge. |
|
|
Las zanahorias están en el refrigerador. = The carrots are in the fridge. |
If you think about the association
that you get with the two sentences you'll see the difference
clearly. The first sentence say there are carrots (some
- nobody knows what kind, how much etc.) in the fridge
- no article! The carrots in the second sentence have
an definite article. So we know something about the
carrots. The carrots (those
I bought yesterday) are in the fridge. You wouldn't
say The carrots there are in
the fridge - wouldn't you? Therefore, the only possible
translation is with estar.
|
The
carrots I bought yesterday are in the fridge. |
Whenever you try to put something
into Spanish that means there
is then hay
is the right choice. In other words: When describing
something indefinite, something without an article hay
is to be used.
|
Hay
unos hombres en la puerta que preguntan por
ti. = There are some men at the door that ask for you. |
|
|
Los hombres de al lado están en la
puerta. = The men from next door are at the door and ask for you. |
| Hay in the different tenses (pretérito indefinido, pretérito imperfecto) |
|
|
Había
mucha gente en la calle. = There were many on the street. |
|
|
Ayer hubo un accidente en Madrid. = Yesterday there was an accident in Madrid. |
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