Japanese has two verbs to express the English phrase there is, there are. The verb ある is used for inanimate objects, and いる for living beings. The polite forms of these verbs are あります and います respectively. You will learn how to conjugate verbs later. The verbs ある and いる are used together with the particle が to express there is, there are.
| English | Japanese |
|---|---|
| There are mountains in Japan. | 日本 に 山 が あります。nihon ni yama ga arimasu. |
| There is a tree (over) there. | あそこ に 木 が あります。asoko ni ki ga arimasu. |
You can also use the verbs together with ni to indicate the location of things, without it being translated to there is, there are.
| English | Japanese |
|---|---|
| There is a cow in the river. | 川 に 牛 が います。kawa ni ushi ga imasu. |
| I'm in the car of the king. | 王 の 車 に います。ou no kuruma ni imasu. |
Note that even though you can say ここです to indicate that you are here, you cannot say 王の車です to indicate that you are inside the king's car, since this sentence means It is the king's car. You also cannot use です in combination with に, so 王の車にです is ungrammatical.
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