”をしている” VS ”いる／ある”

[Annatar]

Good afternoon,

I would be very grateful, if you could specify in grammatical terms the use of the construction:

をしている

in the meaning “to have something”.

And, if possible, the difference between the above construction and the one involving the use of the verbs “iru/aru”, e.g.

私は本が五冊あります。- I have five books.

Thank you in advance.

[j_bertoni2279]

Can you give an example of the をしている usage you're trying to understand?

[Annatar]

Here goes:

（１）あの男性はいい体格をしている。- That man has a big (good) build (figure).
（２）その女性はきれいな頬をしている。- This woman has beautiful cheeks.

Thank you.

[j_bertoni2279]

Okay, now I understand.

"aru" and "iru" are used for existence and stating location. Those uses of siteiru are more like

ベルトをしている

"He's wearing a belt."

As opposed to

ベルトがある。

He has (owns) a belt (but might not be wearing it now).

I don't know how to explain this form very well; sorry!

[Annatar]

Thank you, j_bertoni2279.

As my granddad used to say "Mony a mickle maks a muckle!"

That's Scots for "little by little one gets a lot"

ありがとうございます。

[j_bertoni2279]

どういたしまして。：）

[xmoonsirenx]

Ex sentence:

komatta kao wo shite iru. (He has a troubled look. / He looks troubled.)
[lit: worried face he is doing ]

*when in the form "noun + wo + shite iru" or "verb + wo + shite iru" it means that someone or something is doing something..since after all "suru" means "to do" but in the "wo shiteru" form we interpret it as "have/has" , so saying that someone is "doing a troubled face" means the same thing as "having a troubled looking face" or "wearing a troubled looking face" ..the object receiving the action is "kao = face" because the object marking particle "wo" comes after "kao" to mark it as the thing receiving the action of "shiteru = doing")

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"arimasu" is used more for showing the existence of something at some location or place.
and it follows the form " noun + ga + aru"
for example:
enpitsu ga arimasu.
(There is a pencil.) can also mean ( I have pencils.)
literally means " a pencil exists (somewhere) "


"iru" is has the same function as "aru" but it's used for living animate things like people and animals.

ex: niwa ni wa neko ga iru.
(There is a cat in the garden.)
[literally: a cat exists in the garden]

neko ga imasu ka? (Do you have cats?) can also mean (Do you have a cat?)
[lit: cat exists?]

doubutsuen ni wa zou ga imasu ka?
(Are there elephants in the zoo?) can also mean (Do they have elephants in the zoo?)

I really hope I did not confuse you. I think like you said, you'll learn from the bits and pieces as we all do when it comes to learning a new language. Like putting a puzzle together..and eventually after putting all the pieces together we get to see the clear picture at the end!




)

[Javizy]

I would be very grateful, if you could specify in grammatical terms the use of the construction:

をしている

in the meaning “to have something”.

And, if possible, the difference between the above construction and the one involving the use of the verbs “iru/aru”, e.g.

私は本が五冊あります。- I have five books.

Many verbs have various uses that differ quite significantly in meaning and する is no exception. These are two meanings of する listed in 大辞林.

［3］ （「（…に）…をする」の形で）装身具などを身につける。

鉢巻をする
いつもネクタイをしている

(in the form (…に)…をする) to wear clothing accessories and such.

- Wear a bandanna.
- To always be wearing a necktie.

［4］ 人や物がある形・色・性質である。また、人がある服装・顔の形・表情である。

こわい顔をしてにらむ
青い目をした女の子
立派な体格をしている
いい腕をしている職人

To say that a person or thing is a certain shape, colour or has a particular attribute, or to describe a person's clothing, facial shape or facial expression.

- To glare with a scary face.
- A girl with blue eyes.
- To have a splendid physique.
- A worker with good arms.

As you can see, neither of these refers to possession in the way that ある does, so you can't use する for books and whatnot. As for the difference between something like 綺麗な目がある vs 綺麗な目をしている, in terms of Google results it's 5 vs 7.92 million, so I think that's all you need to know when deciding which one to use

[j_bertoni2279]

As long as we're continuing the thread, I'd say that

ベルトを持っています

is better for "He has a belt."

ベルトがあります

is fine to say that a store has belts. Thanks to a friend for correcting me.