Hay un nuevo instituto de idiomas. Está en el centro. Hay versus estar
omething that causes confusion among those learning Spanish is the difference in the use of "hay" and "estar" on some occasions. For example, the difference between "hay un restaurante nuevo en el centro" (there is a new restaurant downtown) and "el restaurante nuevo está en el centro" (the new restaurant is downtown). While this may seem complicated, it isn't: the differences are specific and easy to understand. That's what we'll see in this article along with, of course, usage examples. Let's go!
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Key difference: new information versus known information.
We use hay to introduce new information in a communicative act, while we use estar to introduce information about something already known, already mentioned in that communicative act. Let’s suppose that a tourist in Montevideo wants to try Uruguayan cuisine at a restaurant. The most natural way to ask me where to go would be something like ¿Dónde hay un (buen) restaurante para probar comidas de Uruguay? (Where is there a (good) restaurant to try Uruguayan food?). And my answer could be something like Hay uno buenísimo en el centro (There’s an excellent one downtown). I may have been to that restaurant a thousand times, but my interlocutor is asking me for information unknown to him, and I’m giving him information that’s new to him. Likewise, if I want to repair something and ask ¿Dónde hay herramientas? (Where are there tools?) it’s because I assume there are tools. If I don’t even assume that, I would ask ¿Hay herramientas? (Are there tools?). The answer to the first question could be (Hay) ((herramientas)) en el sótano. The answer to the second could be the same as the first, but more likely would be something like Sí, (hay) ((herramientas)) en el sótano . Everything in parentheses can be omitted, given the context. Sí, hay herramientas en el sótano (Yes, there are tools in the basement), Sí, hay en el sótano (Yes, there are in the basement) and Sí, en el sótano (Yes, in the basement) are possible answers.
We use estar to introduce additional information about something already known. Let’s use the same examples. This tourist asks me the same thing: ¿Dónde hay un (buen) restaurante para probar platos uruguayos? (Where is there a (good) restaurant to try Uruguayan dishes?). And I answer the same: Hay uno buenísimo en el centro (There’s an excellent one downtown). But then I add information about the restaurant we’re talking about: El restaurante está en la calle x esquina calle y (The restaurant is on x street corner y street). Here I use estar because we both already know which restaurant we’re referring to. And if I want to repair something and know there are tools available but don’t know their location, I ask ¿Dónde están las herramientas? (Where are the tools?), because I already know they exist. ((Las herramientas) están) en el sótano. Again, given the context, everything in parentheses can be omitted: Las herramientas están en el sótano (The tools are in the basement), Están en el sótano (They are in the basement) and En el sótano (In the basement) are valid answers..
Key difference: information about something indeterminate versus information about something specific, unique.
Here and here you can read more about indefinite and definite articles, something that’s relevant to the topic we’re dealing with right now. To summarize, if we say un gato (a cat) any cat that exists in the world could be the one the word gato refers to in that sentence. On the contrary, if we say el gato (the cat) we’re referring to a particular cat, to a cat we already know which one it is. Thus, when we use hay we refer to something indeterminate, that is, any specimen of our noun is valid, which is why it’s used with the indefinite article and its use with the definite article is ungrammatical. For the same reason we can use hay with quantifiers: when we say muchos (many), algunos (some) or tres (three) along with hay we refer to that quantity of any specimens of the noun we’re referring to. So, if we say hay un gato en el jardín (there is a cat in the garden) we refer to any member of that species, so if one of our interlocutors goes to the garden and sees a cat they will accept our statement as true even without knowing if that cat is the same one. However, when we say el gato de María está en el jardín (María’s cat is in the garden) if someone who knows María’s cat goes to the garden and sees another cat they will tell us no, that there’s another cat. When we use estar, on the other hand, we refer to something specific, unique, which is why we use the definite article. Thus, to give an example, we can say that en París hay muchos atractivos turísticos (in Paris there are many tourist attractions), which refers indeterminately to any place in Paris considered a tourist attraction, but we say la torre Eiffel está en París (the Eiffel Tower is in Paris), since we refer specifically to that tourist attraction in Paris..
Location of people or places.
The difference is the same: when we want to know or express the location of indeterminate or unknown people or places we use hay, as in ¿Hay algún banco cerca? (Is there a bank nearby?) or in hay mucha gente en la fiesta (there are many people at the party). But to refer to already known or specific people or places, we use estar: el banco Central está en la esquina (the Central Bank is on the corner), mis amigos están en la fiesta (my friends are at the party).
Examples.
Hay toallas en el baño (There are towels in the bathroom): new information. La toalla azul está en el baño (The blue towel is in the bathroom): that particular towel.
Hay una reunión el viernes (There is a meeting on Friday): new information. La reunión de directorio es el viernes (The board meeting is on Friday): known meeting.
Hay una ferretería en la esquina (There is a hardware store on the corner): unspecific, doesn’t refer to one in particular. There could be two, for example, and any of them would serve from a semantic point of view. La ferretería de mi padre está en la esquina (My father’s hardware store is on the corner): the sentence refers to that hardware store and no other.
From a grammatical point of view, furthermore, hay, as we already saw, is an impersonal form of the verb haber, therefore it’s invariable, while estar, in this usage, is used as a conjugated verb with the grammatical subject that is the noun it refers to. I hope these lines have been useful to you and, if you have doubts, write to me. Here I leave you exercises to practice this topic. Thanks for reading!
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