il y avait

listen to the pronunciation of il y avait
Французский Язык - Турецкий язык
vardın
Французский Язык - Английский Язык
there were

Among the audience, there were students, teachers, clerks, and so on. - Parmi le public, il y avait des étudiants, des professeurs, des employés, etc.

It was a pleasant day, but there were few people in the park. - C'était une journée agréable, mais il y avait peu de monde dans le parc.

Simple past plural of there be
there existed, there lived