Phrase guide

there be

verb · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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verb

Meaning 1

Of the specified thing: to exist, physically or abstractly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

Let there be light.
There are two apples on the table. [=Two apples are on the table.]
There is no way to do it. [=No way to do it exists.]
Is there an answer? [=Does an answer exist?]
No, there isn't. [=No, one doesn't exist.]
There seems to be some difficulty with the papers. [=It seems that there is some difficulty with the papers.]
I expected there to be a simpler solution. [=I expected that there would be a simpler solution.]
There are beginning to be complications. [=It's beginning to be the case that there are complications.]
There have to be two people at the post.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: there exist

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

The expletive there, from Old English þær, to fill the first position in English's historic V2 word order.

Across languages

Translations

85 source translations are retained for this English entry.

Afrikaans: daar's — to exist
Albanian: kam — to exist
Northern Altai: пар (par) — to exist
Arabic: وُجِدَ (wujida) — to exist
Aragonese: haber-bi — to exist
Aragonese: haber-ie — to exist
Armenian: լինել (linel) — to exist
Armenian: կամ (kam) — to exist
Belarusian: быць (bycʹ) — to exist
Belarusian: ме́цца (mjécca) — to exist
Belarusian: ёсць (joscʹ) — to exist
Bulgarian: имам (imam) — to exist
Buryat: бии байха (bii bajxa) — to exist
Buryat: байха (bajxa) — to exist
Catalan: haver-hi — to exist
Chinese Cantonese: 有 (jau5) — to exist
Chinese Mandarin: 有 (yǒu) — to exist
Dolgan: баар (baar) — to exist
Dutch: bestaan — to exist
Dutch: staan — to exist
Dutch: zitten — to exist
Dutch: liggen — to exist
Esperanto: esti — to exist
Esperanto: ekzisti — to exist
Evenki: бимӣ (bimī) — to exist
Finnish: olla — to exist
French: y avoir (il y a) — to exist
Galician: haber — to exist
German: geben (es gibt) — to exist
German: haa — to exist
German: gee — to exist
Greek: είμαι (eímai) — to exist
Greek: υπάρχω (ypárcho) — to exist
Hebrew: יש (yesh) — to exist
Hungarian: van — to exist
Icelandic: vera — to exist
Indonesian: ada — to exist
Irish: bí ann — to exist
Italian: esserci — to exist
Japanese: いる (iru) — to exist
Japanese: ある (aru) — to exist
Kazakh: бар (bar) — to exist
Khakas: пар (par) — to exist
Khmer: មាន (miən) — to exist
Korean: 있다 (itda) — to exist
Kyrgyz: бар (bar) — to exist
Lao: ມີ (mī) — to exist
Latin: sum — to exist
Lithuanian: va būti — to exist
Lombard: vessegh — to exist
Lü: ᦙᦲ (mii) — to exist
Malay: ada — to exist
Manchu: ᠪᡳ (bi) — to exist
Manchu: ᠪᡳᠮᠪᡳ (bimbi) — to exist
Mongolian: бий байх (bii bajx) — to exist
Mongolian: байх (bajx) — to exist
Mongolian: ᠪᠤᠢ ᠪᠠᠶᠢᠬᠤ (bui bayiqu) — to exist
Mongolian: ᠪᠠᠶᠢᠬᠤ (bayiqu) — to exist
Neapolitan: nce stà — to exist
Norwegian: det er — to exist
Norwegian Bokmål: det finnes — to exist
Norwegian Nynorsk: det finnast — to exist
Polish: być — to exist
Portuguese: haver — to exist
Portuguese: ter — to exist
Romani: si — to exist
Russian: быть (bytʹ) — to exist
Russian: име́ться (imétʹsja) — to exist
Russian: есть (jestʹ) — to exist
Spanish: haber — to exist
Swedish: det finnas — to exist
Tagalog: may — to exist
Tagalog: mayroon — to exist
Thai: มี (mii) — to exist
Turkish: var (affimative) — to exist
Turkish: yok — to exist
Tuvan: бар болур (bar bolur) — to exist
Tuvan: бар турар (bar turar) — to exist
Ukrainian: бу́ти (búty) — to exist
Ukrainian: ма́тися (mátysja) — to exist
Ukrainian: є (je) — to exist
Vietnamese: có — to exist
Welsh: bod — to exist
Yakut: баар (baar) — to exist
Yiddish: איז דאָ (iz do) — to exist

Word forms

Inflections and variants

no-table-tags — table-tags
glossary — inflection-template
- — infinitive
- — first-person, present, singular
- — first-person, past, singular
- — present, second-person, singular
- — past, second-person, singular
there is — present, singular, third-person
there's — present, singular, third-person
there was — past, singular, third-person
there are — plural, present
there're — plural, present
there's — nonstandard, plural, present
there were — past, plural
there be — present, subjunctive
there were — past, plural, subjunctive
let there be — imperative, present, multiword-construction
- — imperative, past
there being — error-unrecognized-form, present
there having been — error-unrecognized-form, past, multiword-construction

Word family

Derived and related words

Derived: none provided

Related: as if there is no tomorrow, as if there's no tomorrow, as if there was no tomorrow, as if there were no tomorrow, if ever there was one, if ever there were one, if ever there were some, if there's grass on the field, play ball, if there's grass on the pitch, play ball, in unity, there is strength, in wine there is truth, in wine, there is truth, let there be light, like there is no tomorrow, like there's no tomorrow, like there was no tomorrow, like there were no tomorrow, that's all there is to it, there are bad apples in every orchard, there are many ways to skin a cat, there are many ways to skin cats, there are more horses' asses than horses, there are no atheists in foxholes, there are none so blind as those who will not see, there are no stupid questions, there are plenty more fish in the sea, there are plenty of fish in the sea, there are plenty more pebbles on the beach, there are plenty of pebbles on the beach, there are two sides to every question, there are two sides to every story, there is a lid for every pot, there is a new sheriff in town, there is an exception to every rule, there's an exception to every rule, there is a place and time for everything, there's a place and time for everything, there is a time and a place for everything, there's a time and a place for everything, there is a time and place for everything, there's a time and place for everything, there is no fool like an old fool, there's no fool like an old fool, there is no free lunch, there is no honor among thieves, there is no Planet B, there is no replacement for displacement, there is no spoon, there is no such thing as a free lunch, there's no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as bad press, there is no such thing as bad publicity, there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing, there is no there there, there is no there, there's no there there, there's no there, there is nothing new under the sun, there is no war in Ba Sing Se, there is reason in the roasting of eggs, there is safety in numbers, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark, there is something to be said for, there is strength in numbers, there is the rub, there is truth in wine, there may be snow on the mountaintop but there's fire in the valley, there may be snow on the rooftop but there is fire in the furnace, there may be snow on the rooftop but there's fire in the furnace, there's a first time for everything, there's a good time coming, there's a grain of truth in every joke, there's a lid for every pot, there's always a bigger fish, there's a rotten apple in every barrel, there's a sucker born every minute, there's been an accident, there's life in the old dog yet, there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle, there's many a slip between the cup and the lip, there's many a slip twixt cup and lip, there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip, there's more than one way to cook an egg, there's more than one way to crack an egg, there's more than one way to feed a cat, there's more than one way to fuck a cat, there's more than one way to peel an orange, there's more than one way to skin a cat, there's more where that came from, there's no accounting for taste, there's no business like show business, there's no I in team, there's none so blind as those who will not see, there's no place like home, there's no point crying over spilt milk, there's no shame in my game, there's no smoke without fire, there's no such thing as a stupid question, there's nothing to it, there's no time like the present, there's no use, there's no use crying over spilt milk, there's nowt so queer as folk, there's one born every minute, there's plenty more fish in the sea, where there is a will there is a way, where there is a will, there is a way, where there's a will there's a way, where there is a will, where there's a will, where there is smoke, there is fire, where there's smoke, there's fire, where there's muck there's brass, where there's no sense there's no feeling, while there's life, there's hope

Semantic map

Other relationships

Sources

Where this information comes from

Wiktionary data was expanded into structured fields by Wiktextract. Matching Princeton WordNet definitions and semantic relationships, plus CMUdict ARPABET pronunciations, are merged into this same canonical word page.

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Changes made: Wiktionary markup was removed and matching senses were grouped; WordNet and CMUdict evidence was merged into the canonical word page. Source quotations with separate cited works are not republished.

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