Daar is drie stoele in die kamer.

to be

Breakdown of Daar is drie stoele in die kamer.

• in: in
• die kamer: the room
• die stoel: the chair

Questions & Answers about Daar is drie stoele in die kamer.

Why does the sentence start with Daar is?

Daar is is the standard Afrikaans way to say there is or there are when you are introducing the existence of something.

So in Daar is drie stoele in die kamer, daar does not mainly mean a physical over there. It works like the English existential there in There are three chairs in the room.

This structure is extremely common in Afrikaans:

• Daar is 'n probleem. = There is a problem.
• Daar is baie mense hier. = There are many people here.

Why is it is and not a separate word for are?

Afrikaans does not change the present-tense verb is according to singular or plural the way English does.

So both of these are correct:

• Daar is 'n stoel. = There is a chair.
• Daar is drie stoele. = There are three chairs.

Unlike English, Afrikaans does not say something like Daar are. The same is is used with both singular and plural in this kind of sentence.

Does daar always mean a physical place, like there in English?