Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Japanese: koko ni kuruma wo oite mo ii desu ka. - May I park my car here?

Hardcore Japanese
/Lesson 51
/koko ni kuruma o oite mo ii desu ka.

koko ni kuruma o oite mo ii desu ka.

ここ　に　車くるま　を　置おいて　も　いい　です　か。koko ni kuruma o oite mo ii desu ka.

May I park my car here?

Breakdown of koko ni kuruma o oite mo ii desu ka.

車くるまkuruma

direct object particle

question particle

Questions & Answers about koko ni kuruma o oite mo ii desu ka.

Why is 置いて used here? Doesn’t 置く mean to put?

Yes, 置く（おく） basically means to put, to place, or to leave something somewhere.

With a car, Japanese often uses 置く in the sense of leave/park depending on context. So:

車を置く = to leave/park a car

In natural English, you would usually say park a car here, not put a car here, but the Japanese verb is broader.

A more specific verb for parking is:

駐車する（ちゅうしゃする） = to park

So ここに車を置いてもいいですか and ここに駐車してもいいですか can both be understood as asking if it is okay to park there, though 駐車する sounds more specifically about parking.

What does に do in ここに?

に marks the place where something is put, left, or exists in this sentence.

So:

ここ = here
ここに = here / in this place

Because 置く involves placing something at a location, に is the natural particle to mark that destination/location.

Compare:

ここに車を置く = put/leave the car here

Why is it and not ?

Nihon-shiki romanizationwatasi ha tyuugoku kara kimasita

Hepburn romanizationwatashi wa chuugoku kara kimashita

location particle

〜て　も　いい〜te mo ii

to be permitted to

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have hundreds of Japanese lessons and thousands of exercises.

Start learning Japanese

Start learning Japanese now

車を

車が

Because 車 is the direct object of 置く.

を marks the thing being acted on.
Here, the action is placing/leaving/parking
The thing being placed is the car

So:

車を置く = to put/leave/park a car

If you used が, it would not fit this sentence pattern naturally, because 置く is acting on the car as an object.

How does 置いてもいいですか work grammatically?

This is a very common pattern:

verb in て-form + もいいですか

It means:

Is it okay to ...?
May I ...?
Would it be alright if I ...?

So here:

置く → 置いて (the て-form)
置いてもいいですか = Is it okay if I leave/park it?

Whole pattern:

ここに車を置いてもいいですか
Is it okay to park a car here?

What does も mean here? Does it mean also?

In this pattern, も is part of the grammar ～てもいい, and you should learn it as a set expression.

So while も often means also, in ～てもいい it does not translate neatly as also. The whole pattern means:

it is okay to do...
you may do...

So it is better to think of:

置いてもいい = it is okay to leave/park it

rather than trying to translate each word separately.

Is this sentence asking for permission or asking about ability?

It is asking for permission.

～てもいいですか = May I...? / Is it okay if I...?

It is not about ability, like Can I physically do this?

In English, can sometimes means either ability or permission, but in Japanese this pattern is clearly about permission.

So this sentence means something like:

May I park the car here?
Is it okay to leave the car here?

Why is there no subject like I?

Japanese often leaves out the subject when it is obvious from context.

In English, we often say:

Can I park my car here?

In Japanese, the I is usually unnecessary if the speaker is obviously talking about their own action.

So ここに車を置いてもいいですか naturally implies something like:

May I leave/park a car here?
May I park here?

The subject is understood from the situation.

Does 車 mean the car, a car, or my car here?

Japanese nouns do not usually mark a/the the way English does, and they also often omit possessives if they are obvious.

So 車 could mean:

a car
the car
my car

depending on context.

In a real situation, if you are asking about your own vehicle, the listener will usually understand it as my car even though my is not stated.

Is this a polite sentence?

Yes. ですか makes it polite.

置いてもいいですか = polite
置いてもいい？ = casual

So:

ここに車を置いてもいいですか = polite, normal, useful
ここに車を置いてもいい？ = casual, used with friends or people you know well

A more formal version could be:

ここに車を置いてもよろしいですか

That sounds more formal and respectful.

Can this sentence be written without spaces?

Yes. In normal Japanese writing, it would usually be written without spaces:

ここに車を置いてもいいですか。

The spaces are often added only in learning materials to make it easier to read.

Is this specifically park a car, or could it also mean leave a car?

It can mean both, depending on context.

In everyday English, if you are talking about a car and asking about a place, park is the most natural translation.
But the Japanese 置く is broader and can also carry the idea of leave.

So depending on the situation, the sentence could feel like:

May I park my car here?
Is it okay to leave the car here?

For most learners, park a car here is the most natural way to understand it.

Could I say ここに駐車してもいいですか instead?

Yes, definitely.

ここに車を置いてもいいですか = Is it okay to leave/park a car here?
ここに駐車してもいいですか = Is it okay to park here?

駐車する is more specifically about parking vehicles, so it may sound a little more direct and exact in parking-related situations.

Both are natural, but 駐車する is especially useful when talking about parking lots, signs, or rules about parking.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io