pin ga aru.

There are bowling pins.

Breakdown of pin ga aru.

• が: subject particle
• ある: to exist/have
• ピン: a bowling pin

Questions & Answers about pin ga aru.

Why is ピン written in katakana?

Because ピン is usually a loanword, borrowed from English pin. In Japanese, loanwords are often written in katakana.

Katakana is commonly used for:

• foreign loanwords
• onomatopoeia
• emphasis
• some technical or modern terms

So ピン being in katakana tells you it is not a native Japanese word like 針 or 画びょう, but a borrowed-style word.

What does が do in this sentence?

が marks ピン as the thing that exists.

In ピンがある, the basic pattern is:

• X が ある = there is X / X exists

So here:

• ピン = pin
• が = subject marker for the thing being identified as existing
• ある = exists / there is

A very literal breakdown would be:

• As for existence, a pin exists

But in natural English, it is simply There is a pin.

Why is it ある and not いる?