There Is Sentences

Level 2

Laual on raamat. means There is a book on the table. The place comes first and the new thing comes last.

How It Works

1. The pattern
place or time + verb + new thing

  • Toas on laud. (There is a table in the room.)
  • Täna õhtul on kontsert. (There is a concert tonight.)
  • Meie tänaval on uus pood. (There is a new shop on our street.)

The place usually has a local case: -s for inside and -l for on or at.

2. Word order shows what is new
Estonian has no articles, so word order does part of their job. Whatever is new comes at the end:

  • Laual on raamat. (There is a book on the table.) The book is new.
  • Raamat on laual. (The book is on the table.) We already know which book; the new information is where it is.

3. Other verbs
Besides on, verbs of being somewhere work the same way: Aias kasvab õunapuu. (There is an apple tree growing in the garden.) Selles majas elab kolm peret. (Three families live in this house.)

4. Questions and negatives
Questions keep the same order after kas: Kas siin lähedal on apteek? (Is there a pharmacy near here?) In the negative, the missing thing becomes partitive: Siin ei ole apteeki. See partitive subject.

Examples (6)

  1. Laual on raamat.

    There is a book on the table.

    Word by Word: table-on is book

  2. Linnas on uus kohvik.

    There is a new café in town.

    Word by Word: town-in is new café

  3. Kas siin lähedal on apteek?

    Is there a pharmacy near here?

    Word by Word: Q here near is pharmacy

  4. Täna õhtul on kontsert.

    There is a concert tonight.

    Word by Word: today evening-at is concert

    A time word can open the sentence instead of a place.

  5. Aias kasvab suur õunapuu.

    There is a big apple tree in the garden.

    Word by Word: garden-in grows big apple-tree

  6. Raamat on laual.

    The book is on the table.

    Word by Word: book is table-on

    Reversed order: this is about a book we already know, not a there-is sentence.

Common Mistakes

  • Starting with the thing when you want to say there is a.

    Raamat on laual.
    Laual on raamat.

    You meant There is a book on the table, but Raamat on laual means The book is on the table. To introduce a new thing, put the place first.

  • Keeping the nominative in a negative there-is sentence.

    Laual ei ole raamat.
    Laual ei ole raamatut.

    When something is not there, it takes the partitive.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

There Is SentencesLevel 2

Learn This First

There-is sentences follow the mul on pattern with a place.

Words in This Pattern

olema