Saying that something exists
How English announces that something exists, and how the noun that follows chooses between the two openers.
There is a supermarket near my house, and there are two banks on the same street.
To say that something exists or is present in a place, English opens the sentence with a special two-word opener instead of the thing itself. The opener has a singular form and a plural form: the first goes before one thing, the second before several. The real subject comes after the verb, so the noun that follows decides which form you need.
Many languages announce existence with a verb of possession, and translating that word for word produces a sentence English speakers never say. Remember too that uncountable nouns take the singular opener, even when the amount feels large.