Formes + gibt + Akkusativ (Nominativ: es)
Meaning and usage
Es gibt means there is or there are. The verb gibt never changes: it stays singular even when many things follow. The thing you find stands in the accusative, so ein Park becomes einen Park, ein Buch becomes ein Buch, and viele Kinos stays viele Kinos.
The phrase es gibt is fixed. Es is the subject, and the noun after gibt is the accusative object, so the verb is always gibt. Use it to say that something exists or is available. Learners often copy English and write Es sind or Es geben for more than one thing, but German keeps Es gibt.
Examples 6
In unserer Stadt gibt es eine Bibliothek.
There is a library in our city.
In der Bibliothek gibt es viele Bücher.
There are a lot of books in the library.
Es gibt eine Brücke über diesen Fluss.
There is a bridge across the river.
In dieser Stadt gibt es viele Kinos.
There are many movie theaters in this city.
In diesem See gibt es viele Fische.
There are many fish in this lake.
Wie viele Länder gibt es in Europa?
How many countries are in Europe?
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
In meiner Straße es einen kleinen Supermarkt.
Show answer
Correct answer: gibt
The phrase es gibt is fixed, so the verb is gibt. The noun einen kleinen Supermarkt is the accusative object, not the subject, so it does not change the verb.
- geben is the plural form, but es is the subject and it is singular.
- gebe is the ich form, and the subject here is es, not ich.
- gibst is the du form, and the subject here is es, not du.
In this topic: Personal pronouns
- ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they
- du / Sie Polite you, capitalised Sie with the verb in the -en form
- der Tisch → er er, sie, es replace a thing by its gender
- mich, dich, ihn me, you, him as the one acted on
- mir, dir, ihm to me, to you, to him: the person who gets something
- helfen, gefallen + Dativ help, please, belong to, taste, thank, answer + dative
- es gibt + Akkusativ there is, there are
- Ich gebe es dir. When both objects are pronouns, the accusative comes first
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.