Learn Spanish (Latin America): Hay muchos turistas en el museo.

Hay muchos turistas en el museo.

There are many tourists in the museum.

Breakdown of Hay muchos turistas en el museo.

to be (there is / there are)

el museo

museum

Questions & Answers about Hay muchos turistas en el museo.

Why do we use muchos here instead of muy?

In Spanish, muy means "very" and is only used right before adjectives or adverbs (like muy grande). Here, we are talking about a quantity of people (a noun), so we use a form of mucho. Because turistas is a plural noun, we use muchos to mean "many".

Since turistas ends in "-as", shouldn't it be feminine? Why is it muchos turistas and not muchas turistas?

Words that describe people and end in -ista (like turista or artista) are special: they can be either masculine or feminine depending on who you are talking about. When referring to a mixed group of men and women, Spanish defaults to the masculine form, so we say muchos turistas. If the group were entirely female, it would be muchas turistas.

Why does hay mean "there are"? Don't we normally use a form of ser or estar for "are"?

Hay is a special, unique word used specifically to say "there is" or "there are" when you are pointing out that something exists. The best part? It never changes form! You use the exact same word whether you are talking about one thing (hay un turista) or many things (hay muchos turistas).