👀 c'est and il y a

📖 In short

Two phrases we hear in almost every sentence: c'est means “this is” or “it is”, and we use it to present something. il y a means “there is” or “there are”, and we use it to say something is somewhere.

🔎 The lesson

1 c'est and ce sont

With plurals we say ce sont.

Qu'est-ce que c'est ? — C'est un ballon.What's this? It's a ball.
C'est ma sœur.This is my sister.
Ce sont mes amis.These are my friends.
C'est beau !That's beautiful!

2 il y a

il y a never changes, whether a singular or plural comes after it.

Il y a un chat dans le jardin.There's a cat in the garden.
Il y a trois pommes sur la table.There are three apples on the table.
Qu'est-ce qu'il y a ?What's there? / What's the matter?

3 Negative

Ce n'est pas mon livre.This isn't my book.
Il n'y a pas de lait.There's no milk.

💡 Watch out!

With time, il y a also means “ago”: il y a deux jours = two days ago.

🧩 Test yourself

1 “There's a dog in the house”:

2 “These are my brothers”:

3 Make it negative: Il y a du pain.

→ du, de la, des: some of something ← Comparing: plus, moins, aussi