Lesson 8

Grammer
Existence of people and things
place ni noun ga arimasu/imasu
ex. 1-kai ni resutoran ga arimasu.- There is a restaurant on the first floor.
Uketsuke ni onna no hito ga imasu. - There is a woman at the reception desk.

The verbs arimasu and imasu.
Both verbs express "being". Arimasu is used for inanimate things(books, buildings, trees) and imasu for animate things(people, animals, insects).

The particle ni
Existence in or at a place is indicated by the particle ni.

The subject marker ga
When a subject is introduced for the first time, or when the speaker believes the information to be new to the listener, the subject marker ga is used ofter the noun. Ga should be used, for instance, when stating that someone or something unkown to your listener is in or at a particular place.

noun wa place ni arimasu/imasu
ex. Resutoran wa 1-kai ni arimasu. - The restaurant is on the first floor.

ga>wa
To state that a thing or person exists in a particular location, use ga arimasu/imasu, as in 1-kai ni resutoran ga arimusu. But if you want to comment about that thing or person---even to say where it or he/she exists---use wa instead of ga, as in Resutoran wa 1-kai ni arimasu, where "the restaurant " is the topic of the sentence. Note the difference in translation: "there is a restaurant on the first floor", for the fist sentence, versus "The restaurant is on the first floor" for the second.

Forms of arimasu and imasu
Present form --------------- Past form
Aff. : arimasu --------------aff. :arimashita
Neg. :arimasen -------------neg.:arimasendeshita
Aff.: imasu ------------------aff.: imashita
Neg.: imasen ----------------neg.:imasendeshita

Vocabulary
Parts of a building:
ikkai: first floor, ground floor
ni-kai: second floor
san-gai: third floor
yon-kai: forth floor
go-kai: fifth floor
rokkai: sixth floor
chika ikkai: first basement floor(of several)
chika: basement
-kai/gai: floor, story(counter)
uketsuke: reception desk
o-tearai: restroom, lavatory
chuushajoo: parking lot

Things in a hotel room:
reizooko: refrigerator
beddo: bed
sofaa: sofa
teeburu: table
isu: chair
hana: flower
kaban: briefcase, tote bag

Positions:
ue: top, above
shita: bottom, below, under
mae: front, before
ushiro:back, behind
naka: inside, middle
tonari: next to
chikaku: vicinity, nearby
Few examples:
Hikidashi no naka: inside the drawer
Teeburu no ue: on the table
Teeburu no shita: under the table
Isu no mae: in front of the chair
Sofaa no ushiro: behind the sofa

imasu: be, exist(only of animete objects)
arimasu: be, exist(only of inanimete objects)
nani mo arimasen: nothing
dare mo imasen: no one
mizuumi: lake
otoko no hito: man
otoko: male, man
pen: pen
saifu: wallet
Nihon-go: japanese(language)
seetaa: sweater
mizu: (cold) water
hikidashi: drawer
poketto: pocket
ryokan: traditional Japanese inn
taki: waterfall
soba-ya: buckwheat noodle shop
-ya: shop(suffix)

An example of a short dialogue.

Mr. Tanaka and Ms. Sakura are talking about Nikko.
Tanaka:Do-yoobi ni kazoku to Nikkoo ni ikimasu.
Sakura: Soo desu ka. Nikkoo ni nani ga arimasu ka.
Tanaka: Ookii o-tera ya jinja ga arimasu. Onsen mo arimasu.
Sakura:Onsen tte nan desu ka.
Tanaka:(shows her a pamphlet and points) Kore desu. Nihon no supa desu yo.
Sakura:ii desu ne.
Tanaka-san wa do-yoobi ni kazoku to Nikkoo ni ikimasu. Nikko ni ookii o-tere ya jinja ga arimasu.


Tanaka: On saturday i'm going to Nikko wiht my family.
Sakura: Really? What is there in Nikko?
Tanaka: There ara large temples and shirnes. There are also onsen.
Sakura:What are onsen?
Tanaka:These(shows her a pamphlet and points). Japanese spas.
Sakura: That's nice.

Mr. Tanaka will go to Nikko with his family on Saturday. There are large temples and shrines(and other such things) in Nikko.

kazoku: family
nani: what
Nikko: Nikko (scenic area north of Tokyo)
o-tera: Buddhist temple
ya: and, and so on
jinja: Shinto shrine
onsen: hot spring(resort)
-tte nan desu ka: what is a/an...?
supa: spa
ii desu ne: that's nice

Nihon no supa desu yo
The particle Yo is added to the end of a sentence to call attention to information the speaker thinks the other person does not know.


The particle Ya is used for "and" when listing two or more things or people and implying the existence of others. Another particle, to, also means "and", but it does not imply the existence of other people or things.
ex. 1-kai ni ginkoo to kombini ga arimasu. - There is a bank and a convenience store on the first floor(and nothing else).
Note that unlike "and" in English, both ya and to are used only to connect nouns. The cannot be used to connect verbs or clauses.