Learn German: Ist hier ein Handy? - Is there a cellphone here?

Handy is what Germans call a mobile phone. It looks like an English word, but it is actually a German invention! It comes from the idea of the phone being easy to hold in your hand. Because it is a neuter noun, it uses the article ein.

Since this lesson is about kein, how would I answer 'There is no cellphone here'?

You would use kein, which is the negative article used for 'not a' or 'no' with masculine and neuter nouns. Since Handy is neuter (das Handy), you would say: Hier ist kein Handy. (There is no cellphone here.)

The translation says 'Is there a cellphone here?', but where is the word for 'there' in the German sentence?

English uses 'is there' as a special phrase to talk about things existing. German is much more literal here. Ist hier ein Handy? translates word-for-word to 'Is here a cellphone?'. You do not need to add an extra word for 'there'.

Why does the verb Ist come at the very beginning of the sentence?

In German, yes/no questions start with the verb, just like they often do in English. If this were a regular statement, the verb would be in the second position: Hier ist ein Handy. (A cellphone is here.) To make it a question, you simply move the verb to the front!