Daar is baie belangstelling.

to be

Breakdown of Daar is baie belangstelling.

• baie: a lot of
• daar: there
• die belangstelling: interest

Questions & Answers about Daar is baie belangstelling.

What does daar mean here? Is it the same as English there?

Yes. In this sentence, daar works like the there in English there is / there are.

So Daar is baie belangstelling means something like:

• There is a lot of interest
• There is great interest

Here, daar does not mainly point to a physical place. It is a so-called dummy subject, just like English there in There is a problem.

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Why is it is and not something like are, since baie can mean a lot of or many?

Afrikaans uses is for the present tense of to be with all persons and numbers:

• ek is = I am
• jy is = you are
• hy/sy is = he/she is
• ons is = we are
• hulle is = they are

So even if the idea is plural in English, Afrikaans still uses is:

• Daar is baie mense. = There are many people.
• Daar is baie belangstelling. = There is a lot of interest.

This is very normal in Afrikaans.

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What does baie mean exactly here?