'There is/are': Tem and Há | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

To say that something exists somewhere — the English "there is" / "there are" — Brazilian Portuguese has three options: the everyday tem, the formal/written há, and the agreeing existe(m). The single most important fact for a learner is that the natural spoken form is tem, and that it never changes, no matter how many things exist. This page shows you all three, in the present, past, and future.

The everyday workhorse: "tem"

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, the normal way to say "there is" or "there are" is tem — the third-person singular of ter (to have), used impersonally. It has no subject. You do not say "it has"; you just say tem.

Tem gente na rua.

There are people in the street.

Tem leite na geladeira?

Is there milk in the fridge?

Tem dois carros lá fora.

There are two cars outside.

Look closely at that last example. There are two cars — plural — and yet the verb is still tem, not têm. This is the heart of the construction: existential tem is invariable. The thing that exists (dois carros) is grammatically the object of ter, not its subject, so it never controls agreement.

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Brazilian existential tem never pluralizes. "There is one car" is Tem um carro and "there are ten cars" is Tem dez carros. If you ever write têm (with a circumflex) for existence, it is wrong — that spelling is reserved for "they have" with a real plural subject.

This is a major contrast with English, which uses a form of to be ("there is / are") and forces agreement with the following noun. Portuguese existence is built on ter ("to have"), and the everyday form simply does not agree at all.

The formal/written form: "há"

In writing, in the news, in formal speech, and in fixed expressions, the existential verb is há — the impersonal third-person singular of haver. Like tem, it is invariable: one há covers singular and plural alike.

Há muitas pessoas esperando do lado de fora.

There are many people waiting outside.

Há um erro no relatório.

There is an error in the report.

Não há motivo para preocupação.

There is no reason for concern.

In conversation, a Brazilian would almost always say Tem muita gente lá fora rather than Há muitas pessoas lá fora. The há version is not wrong in speech — it just sounds bookish or formal. Reserve há (formal/written) for essays, contracts, journalism, and a formal register; use tem (informal) everywhere else.

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Há is also the verb in time-since expressions: Moro aqui há dez anos ("I've lived here for ten years," literally "there is ten years"). Don't confuse this há (verb) with the preposition a or the contraction à (a + a). When in doubt: if you can replace it with "there is/ago," it's há.

The agreeing option: "existir"

There is a third route: the verb existir ("to exist"). Unlike tem and há, existir agrees with the noun, because here the noun really is the subject. This is a semi-formal register — common in writing and careful speech, neutral and clear.

Existe uma solução para isso.

There is a solution for this.

Existem várias maneiras de resolver o problema.

There are several ways to solve the problem.

Notice the agreement: singular uma solução → existe, plural várias maneiras → existem. This is the opposite behavior from tem and há.

Past, present, and future at a glance

Each register keeps its own verb across tenses. The trickiest distinction in the past is between an ongoing/background state and a one-time event.

Meaning	Informal (ter)	Formal (haver)
there is / there are	tem	há
there was / there were (state, background)	tinha	havia
there was / there were (single event, "occurred")	teve	houve
there will be	vai ter	haverá

Past state — "tinha" / "havia"

For a situation that simply existed in the background, use the imperfect: tinha (informal) or havia (formal). Both are invariable for existence.

Antigamente tinha um cinema aqui nessa esquina.

There used to be a movie theater here on this corner.

Havia muita gente na festa quando cheguei.

There were a lot of people at the party when I arrived.

Past event — "teve" / "houve"

For something that happened — an accident, a meeting, an earthquake — use the preterite: teve (informal) or houve (formal). These describe an event occurring, not a lingering state.

Teve um acidente feio na Marginal hoje de manhã.

There was a nasty accident on the Marginal this morning.

Houve um grande terremoto na região em 1985.

There was a major earthquake in the region in 1985.

The difference mirrors the English "there was a theater" (a standing state → tinha/havia) versus "there was an explosion" (an event that occurred → teve/houve). For more on the event reading, see Houve and past existence.

Future — "vai ter" / "haverá"

In speech the future is vai ter; in formal writing it is haverá (still invariable).

Amanhã vai ter prova de história, então estuda hoje.

There's going to be a history test tomorrow, so study today.

Haverá uma reunião extraordinária na próxima semana.

There will be a special meeting next week.

Why "ter" and not "to be"?

For an English speaker the strangest part is that existence is built on ter ("to have"), not on a verb of being. The logic is older than it looks: in many languages, "there is X" is phrased as "(the world / the place) has X." Brazilian Portuguese took the colloquial ter down exactly this path, while Spanish kept haber (hay) and English kept be ("there is"). So where a Spanish speaker says hay leche and an English speaker says "there's milk," a Brazilian says tem leite — "(it) has milk." Once you accept "has" as the existential verb, the invariability follows naturally: the milk is what is had, not the subject doing the having.

Common mistakes

❌ Têm muitos problemas nessa empresa.

Incorrect — existential 'tem' must not be pluralized to 'têm'.

✅ Tem muitos problemas nessa empresa.

There are a lot of problems at that company.

❌ Há são três pessoas na sala.

Incorrect — 'há' is already the verb; don't add 'são'.

✅ Há três pessoas na sala.

There are three people in the room.

❌ Existe muitas razões para isso.

Incorrect — 'existir' agrees, so a plural noun needs 'existem'.

✅ Existem muitas razões para isso.

There are many reasons for that.

❌ Ontem teve muita gente o tempo todo na praia.

Incorrect — an ongoing background state takes the imperfect, not the preterite.

✅ Ontem tinha muita gente na praia.

There were a lot of people at the beach yesterday.

❌ It tem um problema.

Incorrect — there is no dummy subject in Portuguese; never translate English 'there/it'.

✅ Tem um problema.

There is a problem.

Key takeaways

Spoken existence = tem, invariable, even with plurals: Tem dois carros lá fora.
Formal/written existence = há, also invariable: Há muitas pessoas.
existir is the one that agrees: existe (sg.) / existem (pl.).
Past: tinha/havia for a state, teve/houve for an event.
Future: vai ter (speech) / haverá (formal).
Never add a dummy "it/there" subject — these verbs stand alone.

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