Where English uses one verb — there is / there are — for a book, a dog, and a meeting alike, Japanese uses two, and the split is by animacy. ある (五段) is existence for inanimate things; いる (一段) is existence for living, self-moving beings. The single hardest habit to build is that you must choose by what the subject is, not by the English translation: 犬がある is simply wrong, because a dog is alive. This page is a side-by-side reference for both verbs, their full form-rows, and the gray zones between them.
The animacy rule
Sort every subject into one of two bins:
- いる — people, animals, and anything perceived as animate: it moves under its own volition. 人, 猫, 犬, 赤ちゃん, 魚 (alive).
- ある — objects, plants, and inanimate referents, including abstractions and events. 本, 車, 木, お金, 時間, 会議.
The deeper principle is not strict biology but perceived animacy and volition. Plants are alive yet take ある (they don't move themselves); a moving robot or a taxi you're about to flag down can attract いる in casual speech. Biology is the rule of thumb; self-directed motion is the real logic underneath it.
机の上に鍵があるよ。
tsukue no ue ni kagi ga aru yo
There's a key on the desk.
庭に大きな犬がいる。
niwa ni ōki na inu ga iru
There's a big dog in the yard.
会議室に誰かいますか。
kaigishitsu ni dareka imasu ka
Is anyone in the meeting room?
The two paradigms side by side
Both are regular for their class, with one wrinkle: ある's plain negative is the suppletive ない, while いる — a well-behaved 一段 verb — has the fully predictable いない.
| Form | ある (things, 五段) | いる (beings, 一段) |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary | ある (aru) | いる (iru) |
| Plain negative | ない (nai) — suppletive | いない (inai) |
| Past | あった (atta) | いた (ita) |
| Past negative | なかった (nakatta) | いなかった (inakatta) |
| Te-form | あって (atte) | いて (ite) |
| Conditional 〜ば | あれば (areba) | いれば (ireba) |
| Polite | あります (arimasu) | います (imasu) |
| Polite negative | ありません (arimasen) | いません (imasen) |
The one contrast to burn in is the plain negative: things → ない, beings → いない. That asymmetry — covered in full on the ある negative page — is the most common leak between the two verbs.
昔、この池に鯉がたくさんいた。
mukashi, kono ike ni koi ga takusan ita
There used to be a lot of carp in this pond. (past いた)
玄関に猫がいなくて、心配になった。
genkan ni neko ga inakute, shinpai ni natta
The cat wasn't at the door, and I got worried. (negative いない)
The location frame: 〜に〜がある / いる
Both verbs share one syntactic template — place に thing/being が ある／いる — the standard way to say "there is X at Y." The に marks where; が marks what exists. Only the final verb changes with animacy.
冷蔵庫にビールがまだあるよ。
reizōko ni bīru ga mada aru yo
There's still beer in the fridge.
あそこに交番がある。道を聞いてみよう。
asoko ni kōban ga aru. michi o kiite miyō
There's a police box over there. Let's go ask directions.
Reverse the topic and you get the "X is located at Y" reading — 鍵は机の上にある — but the verb still tracks animacy. The particle mechanics are detailed on に: location of existence.
Possession runs on the same split
"To have" is expressed as existence, so possession inherits the animacy rule exactly. You have money with ある but have siblings with いる:
兄が二人と、妹が一人います。
ani ga futari to, imōto ga hitori imasu
I have two older brothers and one younger sister. (people → いる)
今は貯金があまりない。
ima wa chokin ga amari nai
I don't have much in savings right now. (money → ある → ない)
Events and appointments are inanimate, so they too take ある: 会議がある ("there's a meeting"), 用事がある ("I have an errand"). Getting "have" right in Japanese is really just getting the animacy split right — the common failure modes are collected on translating 'have' wrongly.
Gray zones — where animacy gets decided, not read off
水槽には魚がいるが、まな板の上にあるのはもう食材だ。
suisō ni wa sakana ga iru ga, manaita no ue ni aru no wa mō shokuzai da
There are (live) fish in the tank, but the one on the cutting board is already an ingredient.
That sentence is the whole principle in miniature: the same noun 魚 takes いる while it swims and ある once it's food. A few more genuine edge cases:
- Plants are alive but take ある (庭に木がある) — no self-motion.
- Vehicles are ある as objects (駐車場に車がある), but a taxi or bus you're relating to as a ride, with a driver, often draws casual いる (あそこにタクシーがいる, "there's a taxi over there").
- The dead shift to inanimate framing: a corpse is 遺体があった.
- Robots and toys that move can take いる colloquially, precisely because they seem to act.
あそこにタクシーがいる、乗ろう。
asoko ni takushī ga iru, norō
There's a taxi over there — let's take it. (casual: a taxi as a moving ride)
The full inventory of these judgment calls lives on いる vs ある: edge cases.
The pair lives on inside aspect and keigo
Two big systems are built on these verbs, so the split propagates:
- 〜ている (progressive / resultant state) is built on いる: 食べている, 立っている. 〜てある (intentional resultant state) is built on ある: 書いてある, 置いてある. Same animate/inanimate DNA — see 〜ている progressive.
- Politeness replaces each verb with a different word: ございます is the 丁寧語 for ある; いらっしゃいます is the 尊敬語 for いる (and おる is its humble form). The polite existence pair is laid out on ございます・いらっしゃいます, and the honorific web around them on the -aru honorifics.
部長は今、大阪にいらっしゃいます。
buchō wa ima, Ōsaka ni irasshaimasu
The department head is in Osaka right now. (honorific for いる)
お手洗いはあちらにございます。
o-tearai wa achira ni gozaimasu
The restroom is over there. (polite for ある)
Common mistakes
❌ 部屋に犬がある。
Incorrect — a dog is animate; use いる.
✅ 部屋に犬がいる。
heya ni inu ga iru
There's a dog in the room.
❌ 子供が三人あります。
Incorrect — children are people; 'have children' uses いる.
✅ 子供が三人います。
kodomo ga sannin imasu
I have three children.
❌ 庭に大きな木がいる。
Incorrect — plants don't move themselves; trees take ある.
✅ 庭に大きな木がある。
niwa ni ōki na ki ga aru
There's a big tree in the yard.
❌ 教室に先生がない。
Incorrect — the teacher is animate, so the negative is いない, not ない.
✅ 教室に先生がいない。
kyōshitsu ni sensei ga inai
The teacher isn't in the classroom.
Key takeaways
- Two verbs, one meaning, split by animacy: ある (五段, things) vs いる (一段, living beings).
- Choose by what the subject is, never by the English "there is" — the deep test is self-directed motion, which is why plants take ある.
- The paradigms are parallel except the plain-negative cell: things → ない, beings → いない.
- The split extends to possession (お金がある / 子供がいる), aspect (〜てある / 〜ている), and keigo (ございます / いらっしゃいます).
- Live edge cases (fish, taxis, robots, the dead) are decided by perceived animacy — see the edge-cases page.
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- ある: The Suppletive Negative ないN4 — ある（to exist, for things）conjugates as an ordinary 五段 -る verb everywhere — あります・あった・あって・あれば — except its plain negative, which is the suppletive adjective ない, never the expected ×あらない.
- ございます・いらっしゃいます: 丁寧語 ExistenceN3 — The elevated existence and copula reference: ある→ございます (things), だ→でございます, and いる split by direction into honorific いらっしゃいます (a respected person) versus humble おります (yourself and your in-group).
- 食べる: Full 一段 ParadigmN5 — The complete eleven-form paradigm of 食べる (taberu) — the model 一段 verb whose every form is just 'drop る, add the ending' with zero sound change, and whose potential, passive, and honorific are all the identical 食べられる.