The Spanish verbs haber and hay
Haber
Haber (to have) cannot be used in Spanish as the main verb, but only as an auxiliary verb to form the composite tenses:
Example:
He venido en tren – I came by train
Ya he trabajado – I’ve already worked
Hay
Hay is an impersonal form of haber and means there is. It refers to a question or statement about whether something exists or where something is. It thus refers to an unspecific person or thing.
Use of hay
– before indefinite quantities
Example:
En España hay mucho turismo
– before numbers
Example:
En el pueblo hay dos iglesias
– before nouns without articles
¿Dónde hay agua?
– with the indefinite article
¿Dónde hay una escuela?