Word
Hi ha una foto penjada a la paret sobre el sofà.
Meaning
There is a photo hanging on the wall above the sofa.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Hi ha una foto penjada a la paret sobre el sofà.
What does hi ha mean here?
It means there is.
In Catalan, hi ha is the normal way to say that something exists or is present somewhere.
- Hi ha una foto = There is a photo
- Hi ha dues fotos = There are two photos
A useful thing to remember: hi ha is used for both singular and plural.
Why does Catalan use hi ha instead of és or està?
Because this sentence is introducing the existence of something.
- Hi ha una foto... = There is a photo...
- La foto està penjada... = The photo is hanging / is hung...
- És una foto antiga. = It is an old photo.
So:
- hi ha = says something exists / is there
- està = says where something already known is, or what state it is in
- és = identifies or describes what something is
Why is it una foto and not un foto?