Learn how to use the Japanese verb that means "to exist" or "to have" when dealing with inanimate objects
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: こんにちは！なおみです！(Kon’nichiwa! Naomi desu!) |
| Kat: Hi everyone, Kat here! Do you have a minute to help out a Japanese student? Thank you very much for joining us. |
| Naomi: じゃあ (jā) Kat-san, please tell us what we're going to learn in this lesson. |
| Kat: In this lesson we're going to learn how to use the verb ある (aru) and it's polite form あります (arimasu). |
| Naomi: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Kat: This conversation takes place on the way home, and it's between Shiroyama, Kent, and a seller. |
| Naomi: What level of Japanese are they speaking? |
| Kat: Shiroyama and Kent are peers of the same age, so they will be speaking very casually. The seller, however, uses formal Japanese. OK, so let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):（ぐー）腹へったー！((Gū) Hara hettā!) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):なぁ、ケント、おごるから、肉まん食べない？(Nā, Kento, ogoru kara, nikuman tabenai?) |
| ケント (Kento):いいね。(Ii ne.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):肉まん、２つください。(Nikuman, futatsu kudasai.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):はい。お会計３１５円です。(Hai. O-kaikei san-byaku jū go-en desu.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):はい・・・あれ？財布がない。(Hai... are? Saifu ga nai.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、悪い。金ある？(Kento, warui. Kane aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):あ、ある。はい。(A, aru. Hai.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):１万円・・・ですか。(Ichi-man-en... desu ka.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):もう少し細かいのありませんか。(Mō sukoshi komakai no arimasen ka.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、小銭ある？(Kento, kozeni aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):ああ、あるある、はい。500円。(Ā, aru aru, hai. Go-hyaku-en.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):サンキュー。すぐ返す。(Sankyū. Sugu kaesu.) |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):腹へったー！(Hara hettā!) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):なぁ、ケント、おごるから、肉まん食べない？(Nā, Kento, ogoru kara, nikuman tabenai?) |
| ケント (Kento):いいね。(Ii ne.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):肉まん、２つください。(Nikuman, futatsu kudasai.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):はい。お会計３１５円です。(Hai. O-kaikei san-byaku jū go-en desu.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):はい・・・あれ？財布がない。(Hai... are? Saifu ga nai.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、悪い。金ある？(Kento, warui. Kane aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):あ、ある。はい。(A, aru. Hai.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):１万円・・・ですか。(Ichi-man-en... desu ka.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):もう少し細かいのありませんか。(Mō sukoshi komakai no arimasen ka.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、小銭ある？(Kento, kozeni aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):ああ、あるある、はい。500円。(Ā, aru aru, hai. Go-hyaku-en.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):サンキュー。すぐ返す。(Sankyū. Sugu kaesu.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):（ぐー）腹へったー！((Gū) Hara hettā!) |
| Kat: (sound of stomach rumbling) I'm starving! |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):なぁ、ケント、おごるから、肉まん食べない？(Nā, Kento, ogoru kara, nikuman tabenai?) |
| Kat: Hey, Kent, want to eat some steamed meat buns? My treat. |
| ケント (Kento):いいね。(Ii ne.) |
| Kat: Sure! |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):肉まん、２つください。(Nikuman, futatsu kudasai.) |
| Kat: Two steamed meat buns, please. |
| 店員 (ten’in):はい。お会計３１５円です。(Hai. O-kaikei san-byaku jū go-en desu.) |
| Kat: That will be 315 yen. |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):はい・・・あれ？財布がない。(Hai... are? Saifu ga nai.) |
| Kat: Okay. Huh? I don't have my wallet. |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、悪い。金ある？(Kento, warui. Kane aru?) |
| Kat: Kent, sorry, do you have any money? |
| ケント (Kento):あ、ある。はい。(A, aru. Hai.) |
| Kat: Ah, yeah I do. Here. |
| 店員 (ten’in):１万円・・・ですか。(Ichi-man-en... desu ka.) |
| Kat: Ten thousand yen...? |
| 店員 (ten’in):もう少し細かいのありませんか。(Mō sukoshi komakai no arimasen ka.) |
| Kat: You wouldn't have anything smaller, would you? |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、小銭ある？(Kento, kozeni aru?) |
| Kat: Kent, do you have any small change? |
| ケント (Kento):ああ、あるある、はい。500円。(Ā, aru aru, hai. Go-hyaku-en.) |
| Kat: Ah, I do, I do. Here. Five hundred yen. |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):サンキュー。すぐ返す。(Sankyū. Sugu kaesu.) |
| Kat: Thanks. I'll pay you back straight away. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Kat: Ah so, this happens to us all sometimes, right?? We realize we don't have our wallet when it comes time to pay… It's like a nightmare situation. |
| Naomi: He even said he was going to treat Kent. Because he was saying おごる (ogoru). |
| Kat: That's so embarrassing! Kent actually ended up having to pay in the end for both of them! So what did they have, by the way? |
| Naomi: 肉まん (nikuman), a steamed meat bun. 肉 (niku) means meat. And まん (man) is the abbreviation of まんじゅう (manjū) which means steamed bun. |
| Kat: They're really delicious. And there are lots of different types of まん (man) or steamed buns, aren’t they? They have fillings other than meat inside them, don't they? |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) That's right! If you go to a convenience store, in Japan, you will probably also see あんまん (anman), a steamed bun with sweetened bean paste inside. |
| Kat: I like kind of dessert まん (man). I also love ピザまん (pizaman), which is like pizza inside of steamed bun. So, it’s like tomato sauce and cheese in the middle. |
| Naomi: Right! And there's even カレーまん (karēman), which is curry inside a steamed bun. |
| Kat: Those are also delicious! I’m a [ ] of まん (man). Everyone, I recommend trying one if you get the chance when you are in Japan! They are so warm in [ ]. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) Especially in winter time. |
| Kat: Yes. Right. They keep your hands warm. They do much for you. |
| Naomi: And it’s not expensive at all. |
| Kat: No, it’s like a dollar or 100-en, I think. |
| Naomi: Right. |
| Kat: OK, so now, let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Kat: The first word we are going to look at is |
| Naomi: おごる (ogoru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: to treat someone |
| Naomi: おごる (ogoru) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: おごる (ogoru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And next. |
| Naomi: 会計 (kaikei) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: the check, the bill |
| Naomi: 会計 (kaikei) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 会計 (kaikei) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And next. |
| Naomi: 財布 (saifu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: wallet |
| Naomi: 財布 (saifu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 財布 (saifu) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: Next. |
| Naomi: 細かい (komakai) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: small, trivial, finely detailed |
| Naomi: 細かい (komakai) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: 細かい (komakai) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: And finally. |
| Naomi: ある (aru) [natural native speed] |
| Kat: to exist (for inanimate objects), to have |
| Naomi: ある (aru) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: ある (aru) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Kat: So now, let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Naomi: The first word we will look at is お金 (o-kane). |
| Kat: “Money.” |
| Naomi: The お (o) here is actually the polite prefix, お (o). |
| Kat: Right - most of the time you will hear お金 (o-kane) for money, but you might hear かね (kane) without the お (o). |
| Naomi: Right, like in the dialogue, where Shiroyama-kun said… ケント、悪い。金ある？(Kento, warui. Kane aru?) |
| Kat: "Kent, sorry, do you have any money?" |
| Naomi: We recommend that you use お金 (o-kane), but just know that you might hear 金 (kane). |
| Kat: But, it’s quite, I think it’s quite vulgar and a bit masculine. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) |
| Kat: I wouldn’t use it myself, especially not to refer to someone else’s money, definitely. Okay, and the next word is...? |
| Naomi: 悪い (warui) |
| Kat: “Bad.” |
| Naomi: This word has another meaning besides this, though. |
| Kat: Right, it's an i-adjective that does mean "bad", but it can also be used to mean "I'm sorry." |
| Naomi: It's a very casual way to apologize. |
| Kat: I'd also say, mostly, men use this way of apologizing, wouldn't you? Not so very casual way of apologizing. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) I think you're right! In the dialogue, Shiroyama-kun said… ケント、悪い。金ある？(Kento, warui. Kane aru?) |
| Kat: "Kent, sorry, do you have any money?" The same phrase we just looked at a minute ago. So he apologizes for having to borrow money from Kent by saying 悪い (warui). |
| Naomi: This is only used with people very close to you, though. |
| Kat: Yes, I wouldn't recommend apologizing this way unless you are speaking with a close friend, and you are apologizing for something pretty minor. |
| Naomi: そうね。(Sō ne.) |
| Kat: Standing on one’s foot by accident, 悪い (warui) to your friend, that’s okay. But anything more serious, it signs to [ ]. |
| Naomi: Otherwise, ごめん (gomen) or ごめんなさい (gomen nasai) might be more appropriate. |
| Kat: And the last word is...? |
| Naomi: おごる (ogoru) |
| Kat: “To treat someone to something.” |
| Naomi: This is used to treat someone to something to eat or drink. |
| Kat: This is helpful to know if you want to pay for someone's meal or drink, if you chose such a day. |
| Naomi: Yes, you can add the particle よ (yo) for emphasis and say おごるよ (ogoru yo) or おごりますよ (ogorimasu yo). |
| Kat: We love to hear that phrase, おごるよ (ogoru yo), yey! How was it used in the dialogue? |
| Naomi: おごるから、肉まん食べない？(Ogoru kara, nikuman tabenai?) |
| Kat: "Do you wanna eat some steamed meat buns? My treat." |
| Naomi: "My treat" - it's a good way to put it I think! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Kat: In this lesson, we'll look at the usage of the verb ある (aru), which is あります (arimasu) in the polite form. ある (aru) is a verb that means "to exist" or "to have". Note that ある (aru) can only be used with inanimate objects. You cannot refer to people/animals using ある (aru). In that case, you use the verb いる (iru) / います (imasu), which is covered in the next lesson. |
| Naomi: Let's start with the meaning of "to be" or "to exist." |
| Kat: For sentences that start with "there is" or "there are" in English, you can use ある (aru) in Japanese. |
| Naomi: The pattern is [inanimate object] plus がある(ga aru). |
| Kat: To mean "there is [inanimate object]." Let's hear some sample sentences. |
| Naomi: コンビニがある (konbini ga aru) |
| Kat: "There's a convenience store." |
| Naomi: 体育館がある (taiikukan ga aru) |
| Kat: "There's a gymnasium." So if you want to say that something exists, then you can use ある (aru). The other meaning of ある (aru) is "to have". |
| Naomi: This pattern is the same... [item] plus がある (ga aru). |
| Kat: To mean "I have [item]." Let's hear some sample sentences. |
| Naomi: お金がある。(O-kane ga aru.) |
| Kat: "I have money." |
| Naomi: 英語のテストがある。(Eigo no tesuto ga aru.) |
| Kat: "I have an English test." In the dialogue, we saw ある (aru) used with this meaning a lot. |
| Naomi: Shiroyama-kun said to Kent - 金ある？(Kane aru?) |
| Kat: "Do you have any money?" |
| Naomi: And Kent replied… あ、ある。はい。(A, aru. Hai.) |
| Kat: "Ah, yeah I do. Here." |
| Naomi: You may remember this from past series, but ある (aru) in polite Japanese is あります (arimasu). |
| Kat: So we have ある (aru) and あります (arimasu), which mean to exist or to have. Now let's look at how to make those negative. |
| Naomi: For あります (arimasu), it's easy. You can just change ます (masu) to ません (masen). |
| Kat: Right, it's the same rule for all ます (masu) verbs. |
| Naomi: ある(aru) is technically a Class 1 verb, but the negative is irregular. The negative form of ある (aru) is simply ない (nai). |
| Kat: With the negative form, you can use the same structure that we just learned. |
| Naomi: [item] plus がない (ga nai). |
| Kat: Right. Can we hear some sample sentences? |
| Naomi: Sure. In the dialogue, Shiroyama-kun says… 財布がない。(Saifu ga nai.) |
| Kat: "I don't have my wallet." Okay, so let's review all the forms together really quickly. Informal Japanese followed by formal Japanese. |
| Naomi: ある (aru) and あります (arimasu) |
| Kat: “There is”, or “I have.” |
| Naomi: ない (nai) and ありません (arimasen) |
| Kat: “There isn't”, or “I don't have.” |
| Naomi: Okay, now it's time for you to practice! |
| Kat: Pretend you are walking down the street, and you are pointing out the things you see around you. |
| Naomi: Remember the structures we just learned. |
| Kat: Here's the first one. "There's a school." |
| [pause] |
| Kat: So, how do we say "there's a school?" |
| Naomi: 学校がある (gakkō ga aru) |
| Kat: Remember that school is 学校 (gakkō). And then we have the particle が (ga), followed by ある (aru). Great! Here's the next one. There's a flower shop. |
| [pause] |
| Kat: So, how do we say "there's a flower shop?" |
| Naomi: 花屋がある (hanaya ga aru) |
| Kat: This may have been tricky! Did you remember the word for flower shop? |
| Naomi: We learned it a few lessons back, 花屋 (hanaya). 花屋がある。(Hanaya ga aru.) |
| Kat: Okay, so now let's try the negative forms. This time, you realize you have forgotten your wallet. What do you say? |
| [pause] |
| Kat: And the answer is...? |
| Naomi: 財布がない。(Saifu ga nai.) |
| Kat: Remember that 財布 (saifu) is wallet. 財布がない。(Saifu ga nai.) Great! Let's do one more. Since you don't have your wallet, obviously you don't have any money. How would you say "I don't have any money!" |
| [pause] |
| Kat: And the answer is...? |
| Naomi: お金がない。(O-kane ga nai.) |
| Kat: We learned the word for money, お金 (o-kane), in the vocab section, so hopefully you remember it! お金がない (o-kane ga nai), I don't have any money, which I often say. |
| Naomi: So, how did you do, everyone? |
| Kat: There's a minor grammar point that we don't have time to go into here, which is using the particle の (no) to replace a noun. |
| Naomi: Yes, we saw it in the dialogue in the line… もう少し細かいのありませんか。(Mō sukoshi komakai no arimasen ka.) |
| Kat: "You wouldn't have anything smaller, would you?" |
| Naomi: 細かいの (komakai no) is small change. |
| Kat: The details on this are in the Lesson Notes, so please make sure to read through them! |
Outro |
| Naomi: Well, we're out of time! もう、時間がない。(Mō, jikan ga nai.) |
| Kat: That's right. 時間がない。(Jikan ga nai.) There's no more time. |
| Naomi: So, thank you for listening, everyone! |
| Kat: Make sure to join us for the next lesson! Until next time. |
| Naomi: じゃあまた！(Jā mata!) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):（ぐー）腹へったー！((Gū) Hara hettā!) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):なぁ、ケント、おごるから、肉まん食べない？(Nā, Kento, ogoru kara, nikuman tabenai?) |
| ケント (Kento):いいね。(Ii ne.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):肉まん、２つください。(Nikuman, futatsu kudasai.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):はい。お会計３１５円です。(Hai. O-kaikei san-byaku jū go-en desu.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):はい・・・あれ？財布がない。(Hai... are? Saifu ga nai.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、悪い。金ある？(Kento, warui. Kane aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):あ、ある。はい。(A, aru. Hai.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):1万円・・・ですか。(Ichi-man-en... desu ka.) |
| 店員 (ten’in):もう少し細かいのありませんか。(Mō sukoshi komakai no arimasen ka.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):ケント、小銭ある？(Kento, kozeni aru?) |
| ケント (Kento):ああ、あるある、はい。500円。(Ā, aru aru, hai. Go-hyaku-en.) |
| 白山 (Shiroyama):サンキュー。すぐ返す。(Sankyū. Sugu kaesu.) |
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