Difference between hay and está in Spanish

There is often confusion for English speakers when using hay and está.  Let's see the difference:

The Spanish "hay"

Hay means "There is/there are". We use hay when we are talking or asking about the existence of something/someone.

Generally the order can present itself in two ways, here's the first:

For example:

Here's the second way:

For example:

You can use the plural indefinite articles unos/unas but very often we omit them as they are not necessary:

The Spanish "está"

"Está" means "It is" and "están" means "They are". We use estar to locate things/people somewhere.

The general order of the sentences with estar is:

For example:

Have a look at how we would use both hay and está in a simple conversation:

Someone is asking about the existence of a park nearby. Notice how after hay we use the indefinite article "un" (the same way in English the indefinite article "a" is used)

Once the speaker knows there is one, he/she asks where it is:

Notice how now they are using "está" to locate it. Now they don't use the indefinite article "un/una" but the definite article "el/la" (the same way in English "the" is used)

Be careful when using "dónde hay..." instead of "dónde está..." as this can be confusing.

We sometimes use dónde + hay for a first question, even when we haven't yet discovered the location, because we are assuming that the place we are asking about does exist. For example:

Notice that after hay there is still the indefinite article (una).

What's in ...? / What's there in...?

We must pay special attention when making questions like:

"What's in/on [place]" which means "What is there in/on [place]" but the "there" bit is often dropped in English.

Despite the omission of "there" in these questions, we still use "hay" in Spanish. See some examples:

See also:

• Using el or la to say "the" in Spanish (singular definite articles)
• Using los or las to say "the" in Spanish (plural definite articles)
• Using un, una to say a/an in Spanish (singular indefinite articles)
• Using unos, unas + plural nouns to say some / a few in Spanish (Artículo indefinido -plural)
• Using hay = there is / there are in Spanish
• Ser vs Estar in Spanish: Using estar in Spanish (not ser) when talking about locations

Video

You can also watch the video below with Gordon and Cynthia from Lightspeed Spanish explaining how hay and está works.