[shinkamalei]

Now for today's lesson:

あります　(Arimasu) and います　(Imasu)

Learning to use our first verbs - あります and　います - requires that we also know a little bit more about them. Specifically, these two verbs are NOT object verbs. This means that they do not use the particle を　(wo) in their sentences to make sense. There are other things such as compounding sentences and whatnot but that is for a MUCH later time. For now, we will use the subject particle が to indicate what we are talking about.

For example, we will use the word 誰/だれ (dare) which means "who" for the います　example.

The sentence is: だれがいますか？ Dare ga imasu ka? Who is there?

います (imasu) does not mean "there" it means to exist. But います (imasu) is only used for living things such as humans and animals.

あります (arimasu) then means to exist but for non-living things. Things like books, computers, etc etc.

This is important. Because you cannot confuse the two. It is very apparent which one should be used. Now the sentence structure as I said goes (subject)+が+います・あります. It all depends on what you want to say.

Now some of you might be wondering why you would use あります・います vs です.　Let me show you two sentences using the same subject.

ほんです. Hon desu. It is a book.

ほんがあります. Hon ga arimasu. A book exists. (There is a book.)

You see the difference? It actually is a completely different way of saying things. It's like you point to a book and say "It is a book" or you look around and say "There is a book."

It sounds strange, I know. But its how it works. Later on you can add counters for how many of something there is or places using different particles. For now, just practice using the nouns we have already learned using います・あります.