The Truth About いる vs ある

ここにコップがあります。 ここに鉄がいます。 鉄 is here. Listen. コップがあります。 鉄がいます。 います。あります。 Japanese uses two words. いる and ある Now, both have the same basic idea. Something exists. The difference is What exists? If it's a being, いる If it's a thing, ある That's the basic idea. So, いる equals being. Use いる for beings. 人がいる。 There is a person. 犬がいる。 There is a dog. 猫がいる。 There is a cat. 魚がいる。 There is a fish. 虫がいる。 There is a bat. These are beings. They act on their own. They have their own life. They think. And they move by themselves. So, being is いる. Simple. Now, ある equals thing. You usually use ある for things. 椅子がある。 There is a chair. 家がある。 There is a house. 山がある。 There is a mountain. 木がある。 There is a tree. 花がある。 There is a flower. So, thing is ある. But what about trees and flowers? A tree is alive. A flower is alive. But in Japanese, we say 木がある。 There is a tree. 花がある。 There is a flower. So, don't only think alive or not alive. Think. Being or thing. Imagine a dog. It acts on its own, right? My dog, he acts on his own. Being is いる. Again. When you look at a tree, it exists there as a thing, right? They can't move by themselves. They don't think. So, we consider it as a thing. So, we say ある for tree. So, 犬がいる。 There is a dog. 木がある。 There is a tree. That's the difference, right? Now, let's look at this image. Imagine a park. You're in a park now. Now, you see a person, dog, bird. We say 人がいる。 There is a person. 犬がいる。 There is a dog. 鳥がいる。 There is a bird. Now, you can also see, Oh, there is a tree and a bench and even flowers. What would you say? 木がある。 There is a tree. ベンチがある。 There is a bench. 花がある。 There are flowers. Thing ある。 Right? That's the image. Not the heart, right? By the way, if you enjoy learning Japanese with me here, check out my website. I'm working on my community, 日本語ダイアリー and new Japanese courses. You can find everything on my website. The link is in the description. So, check that out and I'll see you there. Alright, let's keep going. Now, ある is not only for physical object. For example, 時間がある。 I have time. 予定がある。 I have planned. 問題がある。 There is a problem. These are not physical object, but they still exist. So, we use ある. Time 時間がある。 Plan 予定がある。 Problem 問題がある。 They're all on the thing. So, we say ある. Now, why English sometimes says は? Look at this. The one you've seen. You've just seen. 時間がある。 I have time. Japanese uses ある because time exists. English naturally says I have time. Same with 予定がある。 I have plans. The plan exists. But again, English naturally says I have. So, be careful. Even if the English translation can be have. In Japanese, we say exist. Something exists. Think Japanese as Japanese. In order to do it, you need to understand image, right? So, you always need to have image in your mind. Now, sometimes いる can also become The same thing happens with いる, actually. 兄がいる。 I have an older brother. Your brother is a bean. So, いる。 妹がいる。 I have a younger sister. 子供がいる。 I have children. 彼氏がいる。 I have a boyfriend. 彼女がいる。 I have a girlfriend. Even though English says have, be careful. Japanese says いる。 exist. One more important part. For actual position, right? Japanese can also use 持つ。 Which means have. For example, 車を持っている。 I have a car. お金を持っている。 I have money. So, English have does not always mean いる or ある. The important point is When Japanese is expressing existence, we say いる for bean ある for thing. One last thing. Let's have a look at the core image again. いる equal something exist ある equal something exist Same thing. Then ask What exists? A bean like a person, dog, cat, fish or bug. Then we say いる a thing like a chair, house, tree, flower, time problem or something like that. Then we say ある because it's a thing. For example, 猫がいる。 There is a cat. Cat is bean. 木がある。 There is a tree. Tree is thing. ある。 兄がいる。 I have an older brother. Brother, bean いる。 Right? 時間 time 時間がある。 I have time. Time thing ある Right? Different English translations. Same Japanese core idea. Something exist. Then bean いる thing ある That's it. So again, always try not to translate Japanese to English in your brain, but always think Japanese as Japanese. So what you want to do here is to think of an image. Image will help you understand the ideas of Japanese. All right. That's it for today. I'll see you in the next video. Bye for now.