Learn Japanese
Lesson 22: There is, there are
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 usi 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, since this would mean 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.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| to exist; to have; (used for non-living entities) |
ある aru |
| at; on; in; to; for [indirect object particle] |
に ni |
| 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. |
| to exist; to stay; to have (used for living beings) |
いる iru |
| There is a cow in the river. |
川に牛がいます。 kawa ni usi ga imasu. |
| I'm in the car of the king. |
王の車にいます。 ou no kuruma ni imasu. |
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