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I found this sentence in my textbook:
마음에 드는 지갑이 있어 사려고 했는데 가격이 너무 비쌌다.
and its translation should be roughly:
I intended to buy my favorite wallet, but the price was to high.
My question is: what does the 있어 do in the middle of the sentence? Could this be a mistake?
The sentence structure is:
A[[마음에 드는 지갑]이 있어(서)] B[(그 지갑을) 사려고 했는데], C[가격이 너무 비쌌다].
A: There was a purse I liked
B: so I was about to buy (it), but
C: it was too expensive.
So, 있어 in the sentence does have meaning ("there was ..."), but somehow it's missing from your translation.
있어in your sentence is only an abbreviation of있어서. Similar answer here – Coconut Oct 8 at 3:47