Japanese/Lessons/Existence
When you want to say that something exists, there two verbs you have to choose from depending on whether the subject is an animate- or inanimate object. The difference is not quite living/non-living, as plants would be considered inanimate (as they don't move ... well, most only really slowly). A fish swimming in its fish-bowl would be an animate object, but a dead fish (whether at the fish-mongers or — let's hope not — in its bowl) would be in-animate.
- For animate objects (humans and animals), use "いる" (polite present positive: "います").
- For inanimate objects, use "ある" (polite present positive: "あります").
Note that these can denote both presence or possession.
In the dialogues below, you may replace "います" with "あります".
Dialogue
editThe presence of no particular object
editJapanese | English | ||
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{{{ja}}}: | 何かいますか。 | {{{en}}}: | Is something (animate) there? |
{{{ja}}}: | <animate object> がいます。 | {{{en}}}: | There's a <animate object>. |
{{{ja}}}: | 何もいません。 (なにも いません) | {{{en}}}: | There's nothing. |
To ask about the presence of a particular animate object
editJapanese | English | ||
---|---|---|---|
{{{ja}}}: | <object> がいますか。 | {{{en}}}: | Is there a <animate object>? |
{{{ja}}}: | はい、います。 | {{{en}}}: | Yes, it's there. |
{{{ja}}}: | いいえ、いません。 | {{{en}}}: | No, it's not there. |
If the animate object in question is not present but something else is, you can suggest this by saying:
Japanese | English | ||
---|---|---|---|
{{{ja}}}: | いいえ、<animate object> はいません。 | {{{en}}}: | No, <animate object> is not there. |
Notice that this reply uses "は" instead of "が". The "は" particle can be translated as "as for such and such", while "が" directly marks the subject.[citation needed]
Vocabulary
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