There is in Portuguese

What’s up, folks? All good? Today’s Dica will teach us about There is in Portuguese. Do you know which verb is used to express there is / there are in Portuguese? In Portuguese, for those cases, we use verb haver and its very well used conjugation há. So, let’s learn!

There is / There are: Haver in Portuguese

Verb haver has two verb common uses, which will be presented today for you. First, it’s used as a verb to represent the idea of exist and / or have. However, since it’s a very irregular verb and much difficult to learn, most Brazilians won’t use it on regular basis! But, for you to understand it better, it’s much used in the same situations as “there is / there are” is used in English!

Second, it’s used in phrases to present the idea of time. In those cases, we will only use a certain conjugation of haver in Portuguese: há.

But, before taking a look at examples which will explain those concepts better, let’s take a look at the complete conjugation of verb haver in Portuguese! Irregular conjugations will have an asterisk, while the endings of the regular ones will be in bold.

Indicative

Imperative

Subjunctive

Other Tenses

Examples with There is / There are in Portuguese

Há uma pessoa nesta sala aqui.
There is three people in this classroom.

Há cinco pessoas no bar.
There are five people at the bar.

Há cinquenta mil pessoas no show.
There are fifty thousand people at the concert.

Há um documento na gaveta do diretor.
There is a document in the director’s drawer.

Há sempre atividades no Rio de Janeiro.
There are always activities in Rio de Janeiro.

Há sempre alguém estudando português no Brasil.
There is always someone studying Portuguese in Brazil.

Verb Ter Replacing Verb Haver in Portuguese

Brazilians replace the verb haver for verb ter in the spoken language, but we should always keep in mind that using the verb ter, especially in the written language, our text becomes a little more informal. In general, Brazilians use the verb ter more often than the verb haver, and it’s becoming more and more used on a daily basis!

Let’s see how our examples with haver would be using verb ter!

Exercises with There is in Portuguese

Now that you have learned the conjugation of the verb Haver in Portuguese and its uses and meanings, let’s practice it with the exercises below.

1) Check out if the phrases below look more formal or informal, and complete with the adequate form: tem or há.

• __________ uma barata na cozinha!
• __________ cinco pessoas esperando a entrevista de emprego, chefe.
• __________ mais de cem mil pessoas na passeata contra o governo.
• __________ dois amigos meus vindo para o rolê.
• __________ documentos para serem assinados ainda hoje.
• __________ jogos de tabuleiro para jogarmos depois do jantar!
• __________ uma música muito boa que quero tocar para você!

2) Put the sentences in the correct order using the verb haver in Portuguese.

• uma – aqui – festa – amanhã – Haverá
  ______________________________________
• haja – solução – nova – Talvez – uma
  ____________________________________
• algum – houve – Será – problema? – que
  ________________________________________
• ela? – está –  com – havendo –  O que
  _____________________________________
• não – Infelizmente – casa – em – ninguém – havia
  _________________________________________________
• há – possibilidade – Não – outra
  ________________________________
• outra – avise – Quando – chance – avise – houver – me
  ______________________________________________________
• havido – muita – recentemente – chuva – Tem
  ______________________________________________
• cancelar – haveria – em – reunião? – problema
  ______________________________________________
• carnaval – haver – eventos – Vão – o – muitos – durante
  _______________________________________________________

What do you think? Easy right? Now we learned how to use there is / there are in Portuguese! Remember, in Portuguese, we use tem for more informal occasions and há for more formal ones. How about start creating some sentences with what we’ve learned?

Big hug from Rio & Learn.

Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
Eat in Portuguese
Present Tense of Ir in Portuguese
Fazer in Portuguese
Estar com in Portuguese

Answers

1)

• Tem
• Há
• Há
• Tem
• Há
• Tem
• Tem

2)

• Haverá uma festa aqui amanhã.
• Talvez haja uma outra solução.
• Houve algum problema?
• O que está havendo com ela?
• Infelizmente não havia ninguém em casa.
• Não há outra possibilidade.
• Quando houver outra festa, me avise.
• Tem havido muita chuva recentemente.
• Haveria problema em cancelar a reunião.
• Vão haver muitos eventos durante o Carnaval.