You will use there is/are to mean ada in Bahasa Indonesia. This phrase is used to say that things exist. Thus, an Indonesian sentence Ada lima orang gadis dalam ruangan itu will look like this in English: There are five girls in that room. In the same way, you will say, there are a lot of people in the town square, to mean ada banyak orang di alun-alun kota. There is is followed by a singular noun or an uncountable noun, while there are is followed by a plural noun.
Exercise 1
Instruction: Decide whether to use is or are.
Example: There (is, are) two boys in that room.
There are two boys in that room.
1. There (is, are) two cups of coffee on the table.
2. There (is, are) a pair of glasses on the bed.
3. There (is, are) nothing in that abandoned house.
4. There (is, are) not much money left in my pocket.
5. There (is, are) a lot of water in the pond.
6. There (is, are) three glasses of tea on the dining table.
7. There (is, are) a pair scissors behind that book.
8. There (is, are) only little money in my wallet.
9. There (is, are) a long line of people in that cafetaria.
10. There (is, are) no people left in the meeting room.
11. There (is, are) too many people gathering in the city hall.
12. There (is, are) only a few books left on the shelves.
13. There (is, are) about 20 paintings on the wall.
14. There (is, are) only very little water in the glass.
15. There (is, are) a rich variety of fish in the sea.
Exercise 2
Instruction: Use the following phrases to make up your own sentences. Begin each of your sentences with There is/are.
1. thousands of stars
2. hundreds of trees
3. tens of windows
4. many birds
5. many students
6. one pretty girl and one charming boy
7. tens of planes
8. one broken fridge
9. only three girl students
10. one new teacher