There isnt't any car here OR There aren't any cars here
Is there any car here? OR Are there any cars here ?
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1Use the singular for "non-count nouns", such as There isn't any milk in the fridge. And the plural for "countable" nouns, such as There aren't any eggs in the fridge. Note that in relaxed spoken contexts even relatively "careful" speakers might say There's eggs in the fridge (singular contracted verb with plural subject), but this would normally be seen as "dialectal, uneducated" in contexts not starting with that "contracted clitic" there's (= there is).– FumbleFingersCommented Nov 8, 2022 at 14:27
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2 Answers
Any of these is acceptable.
You might (or might not) choose among them under different circumstances. Possibly you would base this on whether you expected one car or many cars.
- Your teenage son is not home, and you are wondering where he is. You look outside where you expect your car to be. Is there any car here? There isn't any car here. So you presume the car and your son have gone together. Though you would be more likely to say "Is the car here?"
- You are passing by the parking area for a large store, and you are wondering if it is during the hours the store is open. Are there any cars here? There aren't any cars here. So you presume the store is not open for business.
Each option means the same as its partner.
However, its usual to match the variant to the question answered, or expectation of the audience.
e.g.
"Go and wait by the car" : "There isn't a car here".
"Go and wait by the red car" : "There are no cars here". "Count the number of red cars" : "There are no cars here".
Also, in the singular case, it would be more usual to say 'a' rather than 'any', or "There is no care here" in the negative case.
