haarĩ

v.

1. there was. There was or there existed. A locative-existential verb form indicating the presence or existence of something or someone at a particular place or time; often used to introduce narrative elements.

Example: Na haarĩ mũndũ ũmwe watũire na mũrimũ mĩaka mĩrongo ĩtatũ na ĩnana. (One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.); Na thutha wake haarĩ Eleazaru, mũrũ wa Dodo, Mũahohi, ũmwe wa njamba iria ithatũ. (Next to him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the Three warriors. 1 Chr 27:4.)