Hi Angela,

Your question is quite difficult to answer. These two expressions sometimes can be interchangeable and sometimes there might be a slight difference. It depends on the concrete context. Perhaps you can provide a sentence that you are unsure about. In any case I would recommend to listen to native speakers as often as you can to get a feeling how they use these expressions.

Regards,

Paul

1. Es sind = ITA: sono, esistono...

2. Es gibt = ITA: ci... In der Schweiz und Süddeutschland kann man in diesem Fall gelegentlich "Es HAT..." zu hören bekommen...