es gibt

Note

PLEASE avoid generally translating there is with 'es gibt' !!!!

It works only in some particular cases.

  • you could replace there is with 'exists' e.g. There is a little pizza shop in Paris. = There exists exists a little pizza shop in Paris. - there are two possibilities = there exist two possibilities
  • you announce today's (tomorrow's...) lunch: Heute gibt es Pizza. (Today we are having pizza.)

Absolute No-gos are:

  • There is a boy in the street.
  • There is my car.

Test yourself: What does es gibt mean?

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How do German cases work?
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.

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