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LEARN + JAPANESE / 2 of 186 JLPT N5

Something's There ある・いる

English uses “there is” for everything. Japanese splits it into two verbs depending on whether the thing can move on its own: ある for objects, plants, and events, いる for people and animals.

ある: Things That Don’t Move Themselves

Hint · 힌트
ある covers more than physical objects, it also covers scheduled things like tests, parties, and meetings. A test doesn’t move on its own, so it gets ある the same way a park or a book does.

いる: Things That Move Themselves

Hint · 힌트
A tree standing in a park is あります, the same tree with a bird sitting in it makes the bird います, since the bird can fly off on its own and the tree can’t. Robots and cars, despite moving, still take ある, the test is whether something has its own will, not whether it’s technically capable of motion.

Having, Not Just Existing

Hint · 힌트
ある and いる both double as “to have,” not just “there is.” 姉は女の子が二人います literally reads “as for older sister, two daughters exist,” which is how Japanese says someone has children. The daughters are people, so they still take いる even though the sentence is really about possession, not location.

When Something Isn’t There

To say something or someone isn’t there, use the negative form of the existence verb: ある becomes ない, and いる becomes いない. Politely, those are ありません and いません.

Hint · 힌트
じゃない is the casual contraction of ではない; ではありません is its polite counterpart. Both mean “is not,” not “isn’t there.” For absence, ありません is the polite negative of ある, and ない is its casual form. So ここに図書館がありません means “There isn’t a library here,” while ここは図書館ではありません means “This place is not a library.” Also, ある has an irregular negative: ない, not あらない.

Vocabulary

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