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Il y a des arbres ici, mais il n'y a pas de forêts.

Il y a des arbres ici, mais il n'y a pas de forêts.
There are trees here, but there are no forests.
From Lesson 16:Negating "there is" (il n'y a pas de)·French

Questions & Answers about Il y a des arbres ici, mais il n'y a pas de forêts.

Why is it pas de forêts instead of pas des forêts?
When you use a negative phrase like ne ... pas, the indefinite articles un, une, and des change to de (or d' before a vowel). Even though forests are plural, you must use de to say there are 'none of' them.
Why does il y a mean 'there are' here? Doesn't it mean 'there is'?
Il y a is a fixed expression that means both 'there is' and 'there are'. Unlike English, where we change the verb for plural nouns, French uses the exact same phrase whether there is one tree or many trees.
How exactly is the negation built in il n'y a pas de?
The French negative words ne and pas normally wrap around the verb. Here, the pronoun y comes right before the verb a. The ne goes in front of the y, dropping its 'e' to become n', and pas goes right after the verb.
Do I pronounce the 's' at the end of des in des arbres?
Yes! Because arbres starts with a vowel, you must make a spoken link (called a liaison). The 's' at the end of des connects to the 'a' in arbres and is pronounced as a 'z' sound.

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