donde hay. donde estan

HI

Being doing the lesson on life in the city - survival kit. Can one use donde estan and donde hay interchangeably, as well as donde esta. Get that donde esta and estan are singular or plural. But with donde hay can be is or are

Thanks

Maxie

My understanding (and as you know, I am no expert!) is Dónde hay is used when you are not sure a thing/place exists or if you don't have a specific place in mind. And this uncertainty is conveyed in the fact Dónde están requires a definite article where Dónde hay requires an indefinite article.

In English I think of it as “Where is the store?” vs “Is there a store around here?"

I look forward to hearing from Liss!

Thanks Scott_C

Makes sense you are probably correct. well none of us are experts, that is why we are learning : )

I love that one suddenly has this thought, what is that and why. 

keep well Maxie

 ¡Hola Maxie y Scott_C!

Yes indeed, Scott_C is exactly right about the difference between ¿Dónde hay … ? “Where is there / are there … ?” and ¿Dónde está / están  … ? “Where is / are … ?”!

There's a actually a little explanation on this in the lesson Life in the City, just beneath the example ¿Dónde están los baños públicos? “Where are the public bathrooms?”, if you'd like to read a bit more about this topic - but Scott_C has already done a great job of covering it! :)

Saludos,

Liss