Nihongo Notes

Aru (to be) used for human beings

When Mr. Tanaka was eating the lunch that he had brought from homem Mr. Kobayashi, the youngest worker in the office, said
    Okusan ga aru hito wa ii desu ne.
    (It’s nice to have a wife isn’t it?)
Listening to them, Mr. Lerner wondered if okusan ga iru should be used instead of okusan ga aru.
In the sence of "to be in a certain place," aru is used for lifeless things and iru for living creatures, as in
    Asoko ni ginkoo ga arimasu.
    (There’s a bank over there.)

    Asoko ni neko ga imasu.
    (There’s a cat over there.)

On the other hand, when referring to a possession, aru is used for both for living and inanimate things:
    Kyoo wa okane ga arimasen.
    (I don’t have any money today.)

    Kodomo ga futari arimasu.
    (I have two children.)

In this sence too, iru can be used in referring to living creatures. Mr. Kobayashi could have said okusan ga iru hito. There is so substantial difference between aru and iru in this sence, although young people seem to prefer iru, as in
    Tomodachi ga takusan iru.
    (I have many friends.)
There is another case when aru is used to refer to the existence of human beings, as in
    Okane no tame nara nandemo suru hito ga aru.
    (Some people will do anything for money.)

    Asobu yori hataraku hoo ga suki na hito mo arimasu ne.
    (Some people prefer work to play.)

Here aru is used to express the possibility of a certain kind of person existing, rather than referring to the fact of people actually occupying a certain space. In other words, aru refers to the abstract, rather than concrete, existence of human beings who have some specific characterisitc.
Follow this link for an index of Nihongo Notes
Nihongo Notes is taken from a series of columns that appeared in The Japan Times
written by Osamu and Nobuko Mizutani They are not designed to teach Japanese, so much
as they are to better one's Japanese.

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