Word.ws English Dictionary

there have been

there have been is the plural present perfect of there be.

Meaning of there be

Verb

there be (highly irregular; see conjugation table)

  1. Of the specified thing: to exist, physically or abstractly.
    • Let there be light.
    Synonyms:
    there exist

Forms of there have been

alternative formthere've been

Questions about there have been

What is there have been the plural present perfect of?
There have been is the plural present perfect of there be.

Words near there have been in the dictionary

  1. there for everyone to see
  2. there goes the neighborhood
  3. there goes the neighbourhood
  4. there had been
  5. there has been
  6. there have been
  7. there having been
  8. there is
  9. there is a lid for every pot
  10. there is a new sheriff in town
  11. there is a place and time for everything

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: there have been (page history and authors); there be (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “there have been.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/there_have_been. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.