We have already learned two helping verbs;
1. [V-te]+iru
2. [V-te]+shimau
These “iru” and “shimau” are verbs. When they are combined with other verbs like 1 and 2, they slightly lose their original meanings, instead, they add some meanings to the verbs in Te-form. These “-iru” and “-shimau” are works like “auxiliary verbs”, but Japanese has the other word group that should be called “auxiliary verbs” in terms of grammar. Therefore, my posts call this kind of verbs “helping verbs”.
We are going to learn two helping verbs in the section 30. They are “-aru/arimasu” and “oku/okimasu”. The exercises A1 and A2 are for learning “-aru/arimasu”, and A3 to A5 are for “oku/okimasu”. The original meanings of these two are shown below;
“Aru/Arimasu”: Intransitive verb; A thing, an object without life, and a plant exist.
“Oku/Okimasu”: Transitive verb; put something onto somewhere
When these verbs become the helping verbs, these original meanings get weakened while they add some nuance to the verb in front of them.
We are learning one of usages of helping verb “aru/arimasu” in A1. At first, let’s check the conjugation patterns of it.
– Dictionary form = aru, Masu-form = ari masu
– Nai-form = nai*
– Te-form = atte, Ta-form = atta
Though the verb “aru” is a Group1-R verb, Nai-form “aranai” is hardly used in modern Japanese. Saying “Aranai desu.” will be considered incorrect. It is interesting that the negative form of verb “aru” is an I-adjective “nai”. A bit of digression, but “Arimasen” sounds better than “Naidesu.” when saying something doesn’t exist.
Let us look at today’s sentences;
3. Kokuban ni Ji ga Kaite ari masu. (Some characters have been written on the blackboard.)
Looking at this sentence 3, think about the followings
– “ga” is the subject marker.
– “Kaite” is the Te-form of the transitive verb “Kaku/Kakimasu”.
– “arimasu” is a helping verb here, which is an intransitive verb.
Since the verb “Kaku” is a transitive verb, usually it should be “Ji o Kaku”, but as you see, it’s “Ji ga”. So, it would be better to think that the subject is “Ji (ga)” whose predicate is “arimasu”. This could result in the sentence 3’ which is shorter than 3.
3’ Kokuban ni Ji ga Arimasu.”
Then, what is the difference between 3′ and 3? 3’ is simply telling current situation. On the other, 3 is telling is that someone wrote characters on the black board at some time in the past, and the characters still remain on the board even now.
4. Kaban ni Denshi-Jisho ga Irete ari masu. (An electric dictionary has been put in a bag.)
This sentence says that someone put the electric dictionary into bag at some time in the past, and the result of putting the dictionary into bag remains until now. Probably the person who put it in the bag is “Watashi (I)”. Then don’t you think that we have learned a similar sentence recently? That was at A1 and A2 in the section 29 with the construction of “[Vi-te] iru/imasu”. Look at the sentence 5 that uses “[Vi-te] iru” below;
5. Kaban ni Denshi-Jisho ga Haitte i masu. (There has been an electric dictionary in the bag.)
This sentence says that an electric dictionary itself got into a bag at some time in the past, and the result of getting into bag remains until now. Therefore, the sentence 4 and 5 have almost the same meaning. But you need to be careful about the difference between the two.
– 4 : [Vt-te] arimasu: Irete+arimasu
– 5 : [Vi-te] imasu: Haitte+imasu
Note that “Hairu” and “Ireru” are “a pair of intransitive and transitive verb”.
6. Genkan ni Surippa’a ga Narabete arimasu. (Slippers have been lined up at the entrance.)
This sentence says that someone put slippers neatly on the floor of entrance at some time in the past, and the result of putting slippers remains until now. “Narabete” is the Te-form of the transitive verb “Naraberu/Narabemasu”. The intransitive verb that can be the pair of this is “Narabu/Narabimasu”. Since Nai-form of Narabu is Nara<ba>nai, its conjugation pattern is Group1-B. Do you remember “Bi/Mi/Ni=>nde”? The Te-form of Narabu is “Narande”. Let us make a sentence using “[Vi-te]+imasu”.
7. Genkan ni Surippa’a ga Narande imasu. (There have been slippers lining up at the entrance.)
Since it is not clear where today’s sentences are in the above, for sake of review, they are as below;
3. Kokuban ni Ji ga Kaite ari masu. (Some characters have been written on the blackboard.)
4. Kaban ni Denshi-Jisho ga Irete ari masu. (An electric dictionary has been put in a bag.)
6. Genkan ni Surippa’a ga Narabete arimasu. (Slippers have been lined up at the entrance.)
The sentence construction of these is;
[Noun] ni [Subject] ga [Vt-te]+arimasu.
I think that today’s post can end here, but let me continue, although the following explanation may be a confusing one.
Using today’s sentence construction, making the sentence below is okay;
8. Shinkansen no Kippu ga Yoyaku-shite arimasu. (A ticket of high-speed train has been reserved.)
The verb “Yoyaku-suru” is a transitive verb, and today’s construction is “— [Subject] ga [Vt-te]+arimasu.” But look at the next one. Is the sentence okay?
9. Shinkansen no Kippu o Yoyaku-shite arimasu. (I have already got a high-speed train ticket reserved.)
Probably, it’s okay to say like 9 in the real situation. Sometimes a native Japanese speaker does say so. This is simply because “Yoyaku-suru” is a transitive verb. In the sentence 9, Kippu is not the subject of intransitive verb “arimasu”, but the object of transitive verb “Yoyaku-suru”. I would like to say I don’ think this sentence is okay to be written in the textbook, even if a native speaker says like the sentence 9. I may be wrong, because there is a school of thought who thinks the best way to learn a foreign language is to inundate a learner into the huge magnitude of flood of foreign language with a lot of words, expressions, and their variations. I think I am at opposite end as to teaching a foreign language. I try to facilitate learners understanding by restricting vocabulary and patterns of sentence constructions.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A1 on Section30 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
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