There be

There be is an English verb form, which combines existential there with the verb be as existential be.

Form

The construction is unusual in English because the primary verbs (be or have) show object agreement rather than the usual subject agreement. For example, we say "there is a pen" (singular object), and "there are four pens" (plural object). Additionally, the verb must agree with the first direct object, ignoring any conjunctions; so we use the singular forms to cover a plurality of objects if the first object is singular. For example, we say "there is a house and a garden" rather than *"there are a house and a garden." There is some logic to the latter form even though it is erroneous, and students may attempt it.

The basic forms are in the following table:

Form	Singular	Plural
To-infinitive (simple)	there to be
To-infinitive (perfect)	there to have been
Bare infinitive (simple)	there be
Gerund	there being
Present simple	there is	there are
Present perfect	there has been	there have been
Past simple	there was	there were
Past perfect	there had been

Note that while the perfect aspect can apply, the progressive aspect can't be applied; we don't say *"there are being".

In addition, "there be" can take modal verbs, both full modal verbs and semi-modal verbs:

Verb	Simple	Perfect
can	there can be	?there can have been
could	there could be	there could have been
will	there will be	there will have been
would	there would be	there would have been
May	there may be	there may have been
might	there might be	there might have been
shall	there shall be	there shall have been
should	there should be	there should have been
must	there must be	there must have been
ought to	there ought to be	there ought to have been
need to	there needs to be	there needs to have been
have to	there have to be	there have/has to have been
used to	there used to be	-

Pronunciation

Note a linking /r/ is often desirable in "there are", especially to distinguish it from "they are", which has a linking /j/.

Anticipate difficulties

Chinese students will often try to say "there has", or "there have", or just "have" (without a subject). This is because in similar situations in Chinese, they use 有 (Pinyin: yòu). This frequently develops into a fossilised error.