Lesson 14: Having & Being

I want. I need. You have. I don't have. I take. You don't have anymore? Tough. Gimme gimme never gets. Ain't you learned your manners yet?

There are a lot of things in life that we have or need. For example, I have three mountain bikes; three beautiful mountain bikes that love to work their tires off for me on those steep steep climbs up and then spread their wings on the wicked descents back down to civilization. Maybe I don't need three bikes, but I have them.

There is a computer that I have sitting in one of my rooms (if I didn't have a computer you wouldn't have this lesson in front of you right now). It used to be a luxury (want) but has since become a need.

I have spam coming out of the wazoo every morning I get up and check my mail. I don't need that.

I do need you folks to continue enjoying these lessons.

So, for now, I have a following. Or I could say, there is a fairly large group of people who have accessed these lessons are are patiently (impatiently?) awaiting the next lesson which is far too far late in coming.

It is always important to know what is yours and what isn't, if there is something there or if there isn't.

If I said to you, "There is a murderer lurking in that alley." would you venture down it? What if I knew there was a murderer there but couldn't tell you so because I didn't know how? How would I explain to the police when they found your remains that I knew there was danger lurking in the darkness, but did not have the ability to tell the victim? Can you say, "good morning, fellow inmate"? Sure, I knew you could.

So in this lesson we will learn how to say "I have" and "There is" because at times it can be important.

The Lead-in

The verb arimasu (aru) means "there is" and "have" when you are referring to objects. If you are talking about the possession of people (not politically correct these days), living things or the existence of living things, you would use the verb imasu (iru) to express your thoughts.

In a previous lesson we learned that desu means to be but with these two new verbs your conversation strategies expand exponentially.

Arimasu and imasu are the "polite" forms of the verbs aru and iru respectively, which is not to say that aru or iru is "impolite". Rather, they tend to be used in more casual conversations with family and friends, or when writing books, papers, etc. although you could use the more polite version when writing to friends, etc. if you so wish.

Women tend to use the polite version more often than men do, but that is a cultural thing here in Japan. It seems to be acceptable if men act more impolite on a common basis although this too is falling into disfavor with many women who find many young men unmannered these days. As an aside, foreign men are viewed by Japanese women to have much better manners than their Japanese counterpart - just for all you single guys out there.

Here is an example of what it would look like in a simple sentence:

1. Anata no ie ni neko ga imasu. (There is a cat in your house.)
2. Watashi no poketto no naka ni sakana no niku ga aru. (I have some fish meat in my pocket.)
3. Boku no mawari ni neko ga sen-biki iru! Tasukete!! (There are 1000 cats around me! Help!!)

More to come on this very important verb...

- Sensei

Next Lesson 15: Having & Being Continued.