Learn Hardcore Japanese: watasi ha kuruma wo motte imasu.

The actual grammatical subject (“who has the car”) is still I, but Japanese usually marks the topic with は rather than the subject with が in basic sentences like this.

Do I really need to say 私? Can I just say 車を持っています?

You usually don’t need to say 私 if it’s clear from context that you’re talking about yourself.

私は車を持っています。 – “I have a car.” (explicit)
車を持っています。 – “(I) have a car.” (subject understood from context)

In natural conversation, Japanese speakers very often omit pronouns like “I,” “you,” “he,” “she,” when the listener can figure it out from the situation.

Using 私は is useful:

when you want to emphasize that it’s you (as opposed to someone else)
at the start of a conversation or when context is not clear yet

What does the particle を do in 車を持っています?

を is the direct object marker. It marks what the verb is directly acting on.

In 車を持っています:

車 = car
を = marks 車 as the object of the verb
持っています = (am) having / (I) have

So the structure is:

(I) [object: car] have.

In English: “I have a car.”

Without を, the sentence would be grammatically incomplete in standard Japanese, although in very casual speech people sometimes drop it (see below).

Why is it 持っている instead of just 持つ?

持つ (motsu) by itself is the dictionary form of the verb “to hold / to have / to own.”

Japanese often uses the pattern 〜ている (te iru) to express a continuous state or a resulting state.

持っている literally: “to be in a state of holding/owning”
So 車を持っている = “to have a car (and continue to have it)”

This is why 持っている is the natural way to say “have (own/possess) something” in many situations.

Just 持つ is more like the bare dictionary form, used:

to talk about actions in a more abstract or future sense
in dictionary entries or plain-form sentences like 車を持つ。 (still possible, but sounds more like a generic statement than “I (currently) have a car”).

In normal conversation about possession, 持っている / 持っています is far more common.

What’s the difference between 車を持っています and 車があります?

Both can translate as “I have a car,” but there’s a nuance difference:

車を持っています。
- Literally: “(I) am in a state of owning a car.”
- Emphasis: ownership / possession.
- Typical when talking about something you own (car, house, computer, etc.).
車があります。
- Literally: “There is a car.”
- Emphasis: existence of a car.
- Can also be understood as “I have a car,” especially when it’s clear you’re talking about your own things (e.g. in answer to 車がありますか。).

In conversation:

To say you own a car: 車を持っています is very natural.
To say there is a car (e.g. in a parking lot, in a movie scene): 車があります is better.

Why is います used here, when a car is not alive? I learned います is for living things and あります for non-living.

Good observation. The key is:

In 車を持っています, the main verb is 持っています (持つ + ている), and います is just the auxiliary part of 〜ている.
It’s not the existential います (“there is/are [living thing]”).

So we are not saying “a car exists (います).”
We are saying: “(I) hold/possess a car” in the state form: 持って + いる.

The います in 持っています does not follow the alive/non-alive rule; that rule applies when いる / ある is used as a main verb of existence (e.g. 子どもがいます vs. 車があります).

How would I say “I don’t have a car”?

You just make 持っています negative:

私は車を持っていません。
Drop 私 if it’s clear: 車を持っていません。

This means “I don’t have a car.”

In plain (casual) form:

車を持っていない。 – “I don’t have a car.”

You could also say 車がありません, but that sounds more like “There is no car” or “I have no car,” and is less directly about ownership than 車を持っていません.

What is the level of politeness of 持っています? How do I say it more casually?

持っています is the polite form (using ます) — suitable for talking with strangers, at work, etc.

Common more casual versions:

車を持ってる。 – drop the い: ている → てる in many casual dialects
車持ってる。 – even dropping the を in casual speech is common
俺、車持ってる。 – using 俺 (a very casual “I” used mostly by men)

All of these mean roughly: “I’ve got a car.”

If you want very formal or written style, 私は車を持っています。 is perfectly fine as-is.

Can I drop the を and say 車持っています?

In strict grammar, the direct object marker を should be there: 車を持っています。

However, in casual spoken Japanese, people often drop を, especially when the object is short and the meaning is obvious:

車持ってる。
本読んでる。 (“I’m reading a book.”)

So:

With を → correct and good in all situations
Without を → common in casual speech, but avoid in formal writing or careful speech

Is the word order fixed? Can I say 車を私は持っています?

Japanese word order is more flexible than English, but there are natural orders. The most natural here is:

私は車を持っています。
or 車を持っています。

You can say 車を私は持っています, but it sounds like you are putting extra emphasis on 私 (“As for me, I have a car [maybe others don’t]”).

General pattern:

Topic/subject (私は / 僕は) often comes first
Objects with を come before the verb
The verb comes at the end of the sentence

So for neutral emphasis, stick with: (私は) 車を持っています。

Does 持っています mean I’m “holding” the car right now?

No. Context matters, and with 車, 持っています is understood as “own / possess”, not physically “holding.”

持つ / 持っている can mean:

To hold (physically):
- 本を持っています。 – “I’m holding a book.”
To have / to own:
- 車を持っています。 – “I have / own a car.”

With something you can own but not really “hold” (a house, car, etc.), 持っています is naturally interpreted as ownership.

Is it okay to write the sentence without spaces? I usually see Japanese written all together.

Yes, standard Japanese is written without spaces between words.

Your sentence in natural written form is:

私は車を持っています。

Spaces are sometimes added in teaching materials to help beginners see word boundaries, but in real Japanese texts you should expect:

私は車を持っています。 (correct, natural)
not
私は車を持っています。 (only in textbooks for clarity)