čia yra

There Is with Yra

Level 1

Čia yra kavinė. = There is a café here. · Ar čia yra bankas? = Is there a bank here?

How It Works

Saying what is somewhere. Lithuanian uses yra, the third-person form of būti, where English says "there is" or "there are". The place usually comes first and the new thing comes last: Čia yra kavinė. (There is a café here.) Kambaryje yra lova ir stalas. (There is a bed and a table in the room.)

One form for singular and plural. Čia yra bankas. (There is a bank here.) Čia yra du bankai. (There are two banks here.) With daug (many), the noun is genitive plural: Mieste yra daug parkų. See the genitive after quantity words.

The place. Use čia (here), ten (there), netoliese (nearby) or a noun in the locative: mieste (in the city). See the locative of place.

Questions. Put ar first: Ar čia yra bankas? (Is there a bank here?) See yes-no questions with ar.

Word order helps show what is new. Ten yra bankas. introduces a bank (There is a bank over there). Bankas yra ten. talks about a bank you already know (The bank is over there). See flexible word order.

Negative. "There is no" is nėra, and the missing thing goes into the genitive: Čia nėra banko. See absence with nėra.

Examples (6)

  1. Čia yra kavinė.

    There is a café here.

    Word by Word: Here is café.

  2. Ar čia yra bankas?

    Is there a bank here?

  3. Ten yra parduotuvė.

    There is a shop over there.

  4. Kambaryje yra lova ir stalas.

    There is a bed and a table in the room.

    The place comes first, in the locative (kambarys → kambaryje).

  5. Ar netoliese yra vaistinė?

    Is there a pharmacy nearby?

  6. Mieste yra daug parkų.

    There are a lot of parks in the city.

    Yra stays the same for many things; after daug the noun is genitive plural.

Common Mistakes

  • Using “have” when the intended meaning is simply “There is a café here”.

    Čia turi kavinę.
    Čia yra kavinė.

    Čia turi kavinę says that someone has a café here, with the owner understood from context. To state only that a café exists here, use Čia yra kavinė.

  • Keeping the nominative in the negative.

    Čia nėra kavinė.
    Čia nėra kavinės.

    The intended meaning is "There is no café here". With nėra, the missing thing goes into the genitive: kavinė → kavinės.

How It Connects

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

čia yraLevel 1There Is with Yra

Learn This First

Existential yra introduces a thing located somewhere.

Words in This Pattern

būti