We learned yesterday sentences describing existence of “Non-Animal”. Today, we are going to learn sentences describing existence of “Animals/Human”. Sentences of these two types are both verb predicates sentences, but the verbs are different;
– For Non-animal : [Place] ni [Non-Animal Subject]ga Arimasu.
– For Aninals : [Place] ni [Animals/Human Subject]ga Imasu.
It is difficult for a Japanese learner to use properly Arimasu or Imasu in conjunction with the subject. An error that happens frequently is to use Arimasu for a person. If someone is somewhere, use “Imasu”.
Practice and remember the following conversation;
A : Asoko ni Dare ga Imasuka. (Who is over there?)
B : Asoko ni Satou-san ga Imasu. (Sato-san is over there.)
Quiz : Choose Arimasu or Imasu in the following sentence.
Asoko ni Takushii ga { Arimasu or Imasu }
where; takushii is taxi
The answer will be shown tomorrow.
This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 10 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”
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