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Il y a quelques fraises dans la confiture.

Il y a quelques fraises dans la confiture.
There are a few strawberries in the jam.
From Lesson 47:Expressions of quantity (un peu de, beaucoup de)·French

Questions & Answers about Il y a quelques fraises dans la confiture.

Why do we use quelques here instead of un peu de?
The phrase un peu de means "a little bit of" and is used for uncountable things (like water, sugar, or jam). Because you can count individual strawberries, French uses quelques, meaning "a few", instead.
I thought il y a means "there is". Why is it used for "there are" here?
In French, il y a works for both "there is" and "there are". Unlike English, the phrase doesn't change when you are talking about multiple things like the strawberries here.
Do I need to pronounce the "s" at the end of quelques and fraises?
No, the plural "s" at the end of both quelques and fraises is silent. You pronounce them exactly like their singular forms.
Why does the sentence use la before confiture?
The word confiture is a feminine noun, so it must be paired with the feminine word for "the", which is la.

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