Lesson 15: Having & Being Continued

The Form

Arimasu and imasu can be used to indicate location as well if used in the following pattern:

A wa B ni arimasu/imasu.

... where A is the topic of discussion and B is the place.

In this case you must use ni before arimasu/imasu in order to designate the location.

1. Neko wa soko ni imasu. (There is a cat there.)
2. Sakana no niku wa koko ni arimasu. (There is some fish meat here.)

You could also use the previously-learned pattern of A wa B desu to designate a similar meaning:

1. Neko wa soko desu. (The cat is "that place.")
2. Sakana no niku wa koko desu. (The fish meat is "this place.")

Either pattern is fine, but since today we are focusing on arimasu and imasu, let's stick with that pattern, shall we?

If you have forgotten how to use desu, please refer back to previous lessons.

Now you can switch around the location of the location in the sentence and put it in the beginning. If you wanted to do that, you would say, B ni A ga arimasu/imasu where B is still the location and A is the topic.

If you notice, ga has replaced wa in this case. Why? Simply, because A wa tends to be stuck at the beginning of a sentence but A ga does not have this restriction.

If you switch A and B around like this you are also changing the importance of A and B in relation to each other (the difference between the and a). You could also look at this as A wa is already understood or noticed while A ga is noticed for the first time.

A wa can also be used when comparing two things, even if one of the two is not actually mentioned (or present) - see example 7. and 8. below.

1. Toire wa asoko ni arimasu. (The toilet is over there.) - does this ring a bell?
2. Asoko ni koban ga arimasu. (There is a police box over there.)
3. Shini-so! Tabako-ya wa soko ni aru no? (I'm dying! The smoke shop is over there?)
4. Shini-so! Soko ni Tabako-ya ga aru no? (I'm dying! There is a smoke shop over there?)
5. Inu wa niwa ni imasu. (The dog is in the garden)
6. Niwa ni inu ga imasu. (There is a dog in the garden.)
7. Sakana wa niwa no ike ni imasu. Neko wa ike no soba ni imasu. (The fish is in the pond in the garden. The cat is beside the pond.)
8. Sakana wa niwa no ike ni imasu. (The fish is in the pond (wherever the cat may be).)

This verb is important to understand, so let's take a breath, think about this, and then head into the next lesson whenever you are ready. Don't rush it, I'll be here when you want to come back.

Rather than put this all in one huge blog-lesson, I prefer to break it up into short "spurts". That way, you don't need to feel overwhelmed by it all.

Take your time. It's worth the effort (although Chinese these days might get you further ahead in the business world than Japanese...)

More to come...

- Sensei

Next Lesson 16: More on the verb arimasu.