ある is the existence verb for inanimate subjects — anything that doesn't move under its own power: objects, plants, buildings, places, and abstractions. It answers two everyday questions at once: is there any? (物理的な存在 / physical presence) and do you have any? (所有 / possession). One small verb covers "there's a shop over there," "I have money," and "there's a problem." For the animate counterpart — people and animals — see いる; for the big-picture split, the ある・いる overview.
The core pattern
Existence sentences with ある follow the fixed skeleton place に + thing が + ある: the location takes に, the thing that exists takes が.
冷蔵庫に牛乳がある。
reizōko ni gyūnyū ga aru
There's milk in the fridge.
その町に古いお寺がある。
sono machi ni furui o-tera ga aru
There's an old temple in that town.
あそこに店がある。
asoko ni mise ga aru
There's a shop over there.
What counts as "inanimate"
ある is the default for everything that isn't a living, self-moving being. The categories worth internalizing:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Objects | 本 (book), 車 (car), 鍵 (keys), お金 (money) |
| Plants | 木 (tree), 花 (flower), 草 (grass) |
| Places & buildings | 店 (shop), 駅 (station), お寺 (temple), 公園 (park) |
| Abstractions | 時間 (time), 問題 (problem), 質問 (question), 考え (idea) |
| Events | 会議 (meeting), 試験 (exam), パーティー (party) |
Plants surprise learners — a tree is alive, yet it takes ある. That's because the real test isn't "alive vs dead" but "does it move under its own volition?" A tree stays put, so it patterns with objects. (Events like meetings and exams also take ある when you mean they take place; that use gets its own treatment on ある for possession and events.)
家の前に大きい木がある。
ie no mae ni ōkii ki ga aru
There's a big tree in front of the house.
いい考えがある。
ii kangae ga aru
I have a good idea.
ある also means "to have"
Japanese doesn't have a separate verb for "have." To say you possess something inanimate, you simply say it exists (often with に marking the possessor, or with no location at all). English's single "have" splits in Japanese by animacy: inanimate things use ある; people and pets use いる.
今日は時間がある？
kyō wa jikan ga aru?
Do you have time today?
お金がないから、今月は旅行できない。
okane ga nai kara, kongetsu wa ryokō dekinai
I have no money, so I can't travel this month.
車があるから、駅まで送るよ。
kuruma ga aru kara, eki made okuru yo
I've got a car, so I'll give you a lift to the station.
The conjugations — regular everywhere but one
ある is a godan (う-)verb, and it conjugates like a completely ordinary one — with a single, famous exception.
| Form | ある | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary (plain non-past) | ある | regular |
| Polite non-past | あります | regular |
| Plain past | あった | regular (る-verb → った) |
| Polite past | ありました | regular |
| te-form | あって | regular |
| Plain negative | ない | irregular — not ×あらない |
| Polite negative | ありません | regular |
| Plain past-negative | なかった | from ない |
| Polite past-negative | ありませんでした | regular |
Every form you'd predict from the godan rules is correct — あります, あった, あって, ありません — except the plain negative. You would expect ×あらない (the regular godan negative), but that form simply doesn't exist in modern Japanese. Instead the negative is the suppletive ない, which then inflects like an i-adjective for its own past: ない → なかった. It's a historical leftover, and there's no logical shortcut — you just memorize that "the negative of ある is ない."
昔、ここに小さい川があった。
mukashi, koko ni chiisai kawa ga atta
There used to be a small river here.
ごめん、今日は時間がなかった。
gomen, kyō wa jikan ga nakatta
Sorry, I didn't have time today.
この近くにコンビニはありますか。
kono chikaku ni konbini wa arimasu ka
Is there a convenience store near here?
Register
ある / あった are casual register; あります / ありました are polite. Both are entirely everyday. In very formal or written contexts, ある is replaced by the honorific-neutral ございます (お手洗いはあちらにございます, "the restroom is over there" (formal)) — worth recognizing in shops and announcements, though you won't need to produce it early on.
Common mistakes
❌ あそこに店がです。
asoko ni mise ga desu
Incorrect — existence uses ある, never です.
✅ あそこに店がある。
asoko ni mise ga aru
There's a shop over there.
❌ 机の上に本がいる。
tsukue no ue ni hon ga iru
Incorrect — a book is inanimate; いる is only for living beings.
✅ 机の上に本がある。
tsukue no ue ni hon ga aru
There's a book on the desk.
❌ お金があらない。
okane ga aranai
Incorrect — the negative of ある is the suppletive ない, not ×あらない.
✅ お金がない。
okane ga nai
I have no money.
❌ 時間があらなかった。
jikan ga aranakatta
Incorrect — same irregularity: the past-negative comes from ない → なかった.
✅ 時間がなかった。
jikan ga nakatta
I didn't have time.
Key takeaways
- ある = "there is / to have" for inanimate things — objects, plants, places, abstractions, events.
- The pattern: place に + thing が + ある.
- Possession too: お金がある, 時間がある — English "have" splits by animacy (people → いる).
- Regular everywhere except the negative: ない, not ×あらない — while あります, あった, あって are all perfectly normal.
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- いる: Existence of Living ThingsN5 — How to use いる, the existence verb for animate subjects — people and animals — for both 'there is (someone)' and 'to have (people/pets)', with its clean ichidan conjugation.
- ある's Irregular Negative ないN4 — ある conjugates as a normal godan verb everywhere except its plain negative, which is the suppletive い-adjective ない — not the expected ×あらない.
- ある for Possession & Scheduled EventsN4 — Beyond location, ある also means 'have' for inanimate things (車がある) and marks events on the schedule (試験がある) — with で for the event's venue.
- ある・いる: The Animate/Inanimate SplitN5 — The two Japanese existence verbs — いる for animate beings and ある for inanimate things — and why 'there is' and 'to be located' use these, never です.
- に: Location of Existence (ある・いる)N5 — に marks the point where something exists or is statically located, and pairs inseparably with ある/いる — the cleanest way to lock in the に-for-existence versus で-for-action split.