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En la sala hay un sofá y un televisor.

En la sala hay un sofá y un televisor.
In the living room there is a sofa and a television.
From Lesson 14:There is / there are (hay)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about En la sala hay un sofá y un televisor.

How does hay work here? Does it mean "there is" or "there are"?
Hay is a very useful word that means both "there is" and "there are". You use it to point out that something exists. Here, it translates to "there is" because we are introducing a sofa and a television. It never changes form, even if you are talking about multiple things!
Wait, isn't sofá feminine because it ends in an "a"? Why is it un sofá?
That is a great catch! Usually, words ending in "a" are feminine, but sofá is a common exception. It is a masculine word, which is why we use un (a) instead of una. You will just need to memorize this one as a rule-breaker!
Why does it say un televisor instead of una televisión?
In Spanish, un televisor refers to the actual physical machine (the TV set). Una televisión usually refers to the system, the broadcast, or the programming itself. Since we are talking about the physical object sitting in the living room, televisor is the best word to use.
Could I say hay el sofá if I mean a specific sofa?
No, and this is an important rule for hay! We only use hay with unspecific things (using words like un, una, numbers, or no article at all). If you want to talk about "the" specific sofa (el sofá), you would use the verb estar (to be) to say where it is located, like El sofá está en la sala (The sofa is in the living room).

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