What "there is/are" and "it" actually do

English doesn't like sentences without a subject. In many languages you can start a sentence with a verb or skip the subject entirely — English almost never allows that. So when there's no real "doer," we use two dummy subjects: there and it. They fill the subject slot without adding meaning of their own.

The trick is knowing which one to reach for.

There is / there are introduces something that exists or is present — usually for the first time in the conversation. Think of it as saying "this thing exists" or "this thing is in a place."

✅ There are two pharmacies on this street. ❌ It is two pharmacies on this street.

It (as an impersonal subject) talks about conditions — time, weather, distance, temperature, or general situations where no person or thing is really doing anything.

✅ It's raining again. ❌ There's raining again.

A simple test: if you can replace the sentence with "X exists / X is somewhere," use there. If the sentence describes a condition or environment, use it.

Agreement with "there is" and "there are"

The verb after there agrees with the noun that follows, not with "there" itself. This catches even intermediate learners off guard because "there" looks like the subject but isn't — the real subject comes after the verb.

✅ There is a problem with your order. ✅ There are several problems with your order. ❌ There is several problems with your order.

In casual speech, native speakers often say "there's two reasons…" — you'll hear it constantly. In writing and exams, though, match the verb to the noun: singular noun → is, plural noun → are.

With uncountable nouns, use is:

✅ There is some milk in the fridge.

Common uses of impersonal "it"

Impersonal it covers a surprisingly wide range:

• Weather: It's foggy. It snowed all night.
• Time: It's half past six. It's Monday.
• Distance: It's about ten kilometres to the airport.
• General situations: It's important to stay calm. It seems that the train is delayed.

Notice the last type — it + adjective + to-infinitive or it + verb + that-clause. These are extremely common in academic and everyday English:

✅ It's difficult to explain this rule. ❌ There is difficult to explain this rule.

Here, "it" stands in for the real subject ("to explain this rule"). You could technically say "To explain this rule is difficult," but English speakers overwhelmingly prefer the version with it up front.

The mistake that trips everyone up

The single most common error at B1–B2 level is using "it" where you need "there" — and vice versa. Learners often write sentences like:

❌ It is a good restaurant near the station.

The writer means "a good restaurant exists near the station," so the sentence needs there:

✅ There is a good restaurant near the station.

Meanwhile, the reverse also happens:

❌ There is obvious that she was tired.

This is a general judgement about a situation — no new thing is being introduced — so it is correct:

✅ It is obvious that she was tired.

A second pitfall: forgetting that there can combine with other verbs and tenses, not just "is/are" in the present. You can say there was, there were, there will be, there have been, there might be:

✅ There will be a meeting at three o'clock. ✅ There have been several complaints this week.

The structure stays the same — there + verb (agreeing with the following noun) + noun.

Keep these two words in separate mental boxes: there points to existence or presence, it points to a condition, situation, or evaluation. Once that distinction clicks, the choice becomes automatic.