"es gibt" (there is / there are)

Es gibt is how German says "there is" and "there are." It's a fixed little phrase — es + gibt (from geben, "to give") — and once you know its two quirks, it works the same way every time: the thing that exists is always in the accusative case, and the verb itself never changes form for a plural noun.

Quick shortcut: the noun after es gibt is always accusative. In the present tense, the verb is always gibt — even before a plural noun.

Es gibt + accusative

Whatever exists is in the accusative case, so masculine nouns need the accusative form of their article. German often puts a place expression first, with gibt still in second position and es moving after it:

• Hier gibt es einen Park. (There's a park here.) — masculine, ein → einen
• Hier gibt es eine Bibliothek. (There's a library here.) — feminine, unchanged
• Hier gibt es ein Kino. (There's a cinema here.) — neuter, unchanged
• Hier gibt es Parks. (There are parks here.) — plural, no article at all, just like a plain indefinite plural anywhere else

Only the masculine form actually changes — the same pattern you already know from every other accusative article: einen, keinen, meinen, and so on. The verb still stays in second position no matter what comes first — Hier gibt es..., In der Nähe gibt es..., In dieser Stadt gibt es... are all common patterns.

The verb never changes for plural

Gibt is the er/es/sie-form of geben, and it stays exactly that way no matter how many things follow. The verb agrees with es, not with the noun after it — that's why German says Es gibt viele Cafés, not Es geben viele Cafés:

• Es gibt ein Café. (There's one café.) — singular
• ✅ Es gibt viele Cafés. (There are many cafés.) — plural, but still ✅ gibt, never ❌ geben

This is the single most common mistake with this construction — reflexively matching the verb to the plural noun the way you would with sein: ✅ Die Cafés sind hier, but ❌ Es geben viele Cafés.

Es gibt vs. sein: existence vs. location

Both es gibt and a form of sein can be translated as "there is" in English, but German uses them for two different things:

• Es gibt introduces or asks about existence or availability — usually with an indefinite noun, something new to the conversation. Es gibt einen Supermarkt in der Nähe. (There's a supermarket nearby.)
• Sein (ist/sind) says where something specific and already known is located. Der Supermarkt ist in der Nähe. (The supermarket is nearby — a specific one you both already have in mind.)

A useful beginner test: if you're announcing that something exists, reach for es gibt; if you're saying where a specific, already-known thing is, reach for sein. This isn't an absolute rule — a definite noun can still appear with es gibt when the point really is existence rather than location (Den Supermarkt gibt es auch in Berlin — "That supermarket also exists in Berlin") — but for everyday A1 sentences, the indefinite/es gibt vs. definite/sein pattern above covers almost everything you'll need.

Negation and questions

To say an indefinite thing doesn't exist, negate the noun with kein, exactly as you would anywhere else — es gibt itself never changes:

• Es gibt keinen Park hier. (There's no park here.)
• Es gibt keine Bücher mehr. (There are no more books.)

With a definite, already-known noun, German switches to nicht instead — the same kein-for-indefinite-nouns, nicht-for-definite-nouns pattern you already know: Den Supermarkt gibt es nicht mehr. (That supermarket doesn't exist anymore.) At A1, kein is what you'll need for the vast majority of sentences.

For a yes/no question, gibt simply moves to the front, the same verb-first pattern every yes/no question uses:

• Gibt es einen Park hier? (Is there a park here?)

And for a W-question, the question word leads and gibt still comes right after it, in second position:

• Was gibt es hier? (What is there here? / What's here?)
• Wo gibt es einen Supermarkt? (Where is there a supermarket?)

Common mistakes

• ❌ Es geben viele Cafés. → ✅ Es gibt viele Cafés. — gibt never changes to geben, even for a plural noun; es is always the subject
• ❌ Es gibt der Park. → ✅ Es gibt einen Park. — the noun after es gibt is always accusative, never nominative
• ❌ Es gibt nicht ein Café. → ✅ Es gibt kein Café. — negate the noun with kein, not nicht ein
• ❌ Der Supermarkt gibt es hier. → ✅ Der Supermarkt ist hier / in der Nähe. — for the location of a specific, already-known thing, use sein, not es gibt

Quick check

Fill in gibt or ist/sind, and the right accusative form where needed.

1. ____ es ___ (ein) Bahnhof in dieser Stadt? (masculine)
2. Die Bibliothek ____ neben der Schule. (already-known library — location)
3. ____ es hier viele Restaurants?
4. Es ____ ___ (kein) Zeit mehr. (feminine)

Key takeaways

• Es gibt is followed by the accusative — masculine nouns need einen/keinen/etc., feminine and neuter stay unchanged.
• Gibt never changes to geben, even before a plural noun — es is always the grammatical subject.
• Use es gibt to say something exists in general; use sein (ist/sind) to say where something specific and already known is located.
• Negate an indefinite noun with kein: Es gibt keinen Park. A definite noun instead uses nicht: Den Supermarkt gibt es nicht mehr.
• In questions, gibt moves to the front for yes/no questions (Gibt es...?) or follows the question word in a W-question (Was gibt es...?).