Voted Best Answer
Sep 30, 2014 - 05:31 AM
Hi Jig
You are right that both "es gibt" and "da ist" can be translated as "there is" and "es gibt" and "da sind" as "there are".
Very often they can be used interchangeably. But "da ist" and "da sind" normally indicate a location. Imagine you can almost point at a particular spot. You are thinking more about the location. So maybe think of "there is located..."
The restaurant there is good = Das Restaurant da ist gut
The people there are nice = Die Leute da sind nett
Or:
There is my brother = Da ist mein Bruder or: Dort ist mein Bruder
"Es gibt" is used more in the sense of "there exist(s)". So:
There is a good restaurant in this city = Es gibt ein gutes Restaurant in dieser Stadt
There are many good schools in Berlin = Es gibt viele gute Schulen in Berlin
So "es gibt" is a lot more versatile and that's why we taught it in the program.
You are right that both "es gibt" and "da ist" can be translated as "there is" and "es gibt" and "da sind" as "there are".
Very often they can be used interchangeably. But "da ist" and "da sind" normally indicate a location. Imagine you can almost point at a particular spot. You are thinking more about the location. So maybe think of "there is located..."
The restaurant there is good = Das Restaurant da ist gut
The people there are nice = Die Leute da sind nett
Or:
There is my brother = Da ist mein Bruder or: Dort ist mein Bruder
"Es gibt" is used more in the sense of "there exist(s)". So:
There is a good restaurant in this city = Es gibt ein gutes Restaurant in dieser Stadt
There are many good schools in Berlin = Es gibt viele gute Schulen in Berlin
So "es gibt" is a lot more versatile and that's why we taught it in the program.