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Il y a un désert, mais il n'y a pas de forêts.

Il y a un désert, mais il n'y a pas de forêts.
There is a desert, but there are no forests.
From Lesson 16:Negating "there is" (il n'y a pas de)·French

Questions & Answers about Il y a un désert, mais il n'y a pas de forêts.

Why is it de forêts instead of des forêts if 'forests' is plural?
In negative sentences, indefinite plural articles like des change to de (or d' before a vowel). Since we are saying there are 'no' forests using the negative phrase il n'y a pas, the plural word forêts must be preceded by de instead of des.
How does the ne ... pas negation wrap around il y a here?
The negative words ne and pas go on either side of the verb. In this phrase, the verb is a (has), and the pronoun y (there) always stays glued right in front of it. Therefore, ne goes before the y (dropping its 'e' to become n' because y acts like a vowel), resulting in il n'y a pas.
Il y a translates to 'there is' for the desert, but 'there are' for the forests. Does the phrase change for plural words?
No, it stays exactly the same! In French, il y a (and its negative form il n'y a pas) does double duty: it is used for both 'there is' with singular nouns and 'there are' with plural nouns.
Do I pronounce the 's' at the end of forêts?
No, the 's' at the end of forêts is completely silent. This is the standard rule for most plural nouns in French. When speaking, you usually only know a noun is plural because of the words that come right before it.

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