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Il y a au moins vingt étudiants.

Il y a au moins vingt étudiants.
There are at least twenty students.
From Lesson 96:Sequence connectors (d'abord, puis...)·French

Questions & Answers about Il y a au moins vingt étudiants.

Why is it Il y a if there are multiple students? Doesn't French have a plural form for 'there are'?
No, il y a is a very handy phrase because it means both 'there is' and 'there are'. Even though vingt étudiants (twenty students) is plural, you never change il y a to match it.
I learned that moins means 'less'. How does it mean 'at least' in this sentence?
When you put au (to the) in front of moins, it creates the fixed expression au moins, which means 'at least'. It is used exactly like its English equivalent to set a minimum amount.
Do I pronounce the 't' in vingt before étudiants?
Yes, you do! While the 't' at the end of vingt is normally silent, you make a liaison (a spoken link) here because étudiants starts with a vowel. You pronounce the linking 't' so it sounds a bit like 'ving-tay-tu-diants'.
Why isn't there a word like des before étudiants?
Because there is a specific number. In French, when you use a number like vingt (twenty), it replaces the indefinite plural article des (some). You simply put the number directly in front of the noun.

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