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Verb (Group 2)
| An animate thing exists. | Be; exist; stay |
| 【Related Expression: ある1】 |
(ksa). この町(に)は日本人が沢山いる・います。
In this town are many Japanese.
(ksb). リーはこの寮にいる・います。
Lee is in this dorm.
(a). この動物園にはパンダがいます。
There are pandas in this zoo.
(b). スチーブは今ロビンのアパートにいる。
Steve is in Robin's apartment now.
1. いる1 expresses existence in terms of animal life. It cannot be used for plant life or inanimate things. Thus, the following sentence is ungrammatical.
For plants and inanimate things, ある is used.
(⇨ ㊦ ある (1))
2. Two sentence patterns can be used with いる1. In the Key Sentence (A) pattern, a location is presented as the topic and what exists there is under focus. In this pattern the location marker に can optionally drop. In the Key Sentence (B) pattern, on the other hand, what exists is presented as the topic and where it exists is under focus.
(⇨ ㊦ ある (1), Note 3)
3. An animate thing or a group or organization of animate things such as a football team can also be in the location position, as seen in (2).