There Is / There Are (Hast)

There Is / There Are (hast)

Once you can say what something is (boodan), the next step is saying that something exists. Persian does this with one small word: hast.

The Pattern

The thing that exists comes first, and hast closes the sentence, just like every other Persian verb.

Key Points

• In everyday speech hast is used for both singular and plural. "do taa ketaab hast" (there are two books) is completely normal.
• The negative is nist, not "na-hast".
• To ask a question, keep the same word order and raise your voice: "aab hast?" (Is there water?).
• Don't confuse hast (there is) with ast (is). ast is the written form, and in speech it contracts to -e on the end of the word before it: "ketaab ru-ye miz ast" is written, "ketaab ru-ye miz-e" is said, and both mean the book is on the table. Compare "ru-ye miz ketaab hast" = there is a book on the table.
• That spoken -e is the verb "is", not the ezafe -e that links two words (Lesson G5). "khune-ye bozorg" = a big house; "khune bozorg-e" = the house is big.

Examples