LEARN + JAPANESE / Note 57 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

In Real Life
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

In Real Life
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

In Real Life
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.

Vocabulary

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