Apenas hay gente en la cafetería, así que podemos charlar un rato.

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Breakdown of Apenas hay gente en la cafetería, así que podemos charlar un rato.

• nosotros: we
• charlar: to chat
• poder: can

Questions & Answers about Apenas hay gente en la cafetería, así que podemos charlar un rato.

What does apenas mean here, and is it the same as casi no?

Here apenas means hardly / barely (almost not). It’s very close to casi no:

• Apenas hay gente… = There are hardly any people…
• Casi no hay gente… = There are almost no people… Apenas often feels a bit more “literary” or slightly more emphatic, but both are common in Spain.

Why is it hay gente and not hay una gente or hay las gentes?

Gente is usually an uncountable collective noun in Spanish (like “people” in English when you mean “people in general”), so you normally don’t use un/una with it.
Also, gentes exists but is less common and means “peoples” (groups/peoples) or “different kinds of people,” not the everyday “people in a café.”

Why is hay used instead of está/están?

Hay (from haber) is used to say there is/there are—it introduces the existence/amount of something:

• Hay gente = There are people (present/available) Whereas estar tends to locate something specific:
• La gente está en la cafetería = The people are in the café (specific group already identified)

If gente is singular, why does Spanish still translate to “people” (plural) in English?