Japanese Words & Their Uses II. Akira Miura
wa kodomo ga san-nin aru soo da.
I hear Mr. Yamamoto has three children.
(5) Ii tomodachi ga aru kara ii desu ne.
Isn’t it good that you have nice friends!
Although to signify the existence of animate beings, iru (see iru) is the verb that is usually used (e.g., Asoko ni inu ga iru “There’s a dog over there”), aru is sometimes used, especially (a) if the subject is not a specific person or a specific animal, (b) if where the subject exists is irrelevant, and (c) if the noun signaling the subject is preceded by a relative clause, as in
(6) Yoku benkyoo-suru gakusei mo aru shi, asonde bakari iru gakusei mo aru.
There are students who study hard and there are students who fool around all the time.
There is another important use of aru: to refer to happenings or events.
(7) Konban hanabi ga aru soo da.
I hear there will be fireworks tonight.
In this case, aru does not indicate existence, but rather refers to an event. When a location is mentioned, therefore, the particle de (not ni) is required.
(8) Konban Ryoogoku de hanabi ga aru soo da.
I hear there will be fireworks at Ryogoku tonight.
Compare this with sentence (1), where ni is used to indicate location.
Aruku means “to walk.”
(1) Ano hito wa aruku no ga hayai desu nee.
He walks fast, doesn’t he!
When the destination is mentioned, the particle preceding aruku should be made “up to.” When e or ni, both meaning “to,” is used, the verb is changed to aruite iku (lit., “to go walking”) or aruite kuru (lit., “to come walking”).
(2) Itsumo gakkoo made arakimasu.
I always walk to school.
(3) Itsumo gakkoo e (or ni) aruite-ikimasu.
I always go to school on foot.
When the place along or through which the act of walking takes place is mentioned, aruku is preceded by the particle o.
(4) Asoko o aruite-iru no wa dare deshoo.
I wonder who that person is who is walking over there (lit. along that place).
Other verbs of motion such as iku “to go” and kuru “to come” are also used with o in comparable situations.
When walking takes place up or down a steep incline (e.g., stairs), aruku has to be either replaced by another verb (such as noboru “to climb up”) or changed to the -te form and followed by another verb (e.g., aruite noboru). In the following example (5), therefore, (a) is incorrect while (b) and (c) are correct.
(5) kaidan o (a) *aruku
(b) noboru
(c) aruite noboru
to climb (or walk up) the stairs
Unlike “walk,” aruku is normally not used in the sense of “to take a stroll.” Sentence (6) is therefore wrong for the meaning intended.
(6) *Kyoo wa tenki ga ii kara issho ni arukimashoo.
Since it’s such a beautiful day today, let’s take a walk together.
Arukimashoo in this case should be replaced by sanpo-shimashoo “let’s take a stroll” (see sanpo).
Asa begins at daybreak and ends at midmorning. This is in contrast with English “morning,” which begins earlier and lasts longer. Eleven a.m. is still morning in English, but Japanese asa does not normally refer to such late hours. Eleven in the morning is gozen juuichi-ji “11 a.m.” rather than *asa no juuichi-ji (lit., “11 in the morning”).
In English, “foot” and “leg” are two different words, but in Japanese, ashi might mean either of them or both. Ashi ga itai may therefore mean “My leg hurts,” “My legs hurt,” “My foot hurts,” “My feet hurt,” or some combination thereof. It really doesn’t matter since the person who feels the pain is likely to point to the painful spot anyway to indicate where he is hurting. Moreover, if it becomes necessary to be more specific (e.g., when one has to explain his ailment to his doctor over the phone), there are words for parts of legs and feet, e.g., momo “thigh,” hiza “knee,” sune “shin,” fukumhagi “calf,” ashikubi “ankle,” kakato “heel,” and so on.
The word for “tomorrow” is most often ashita, as in Ashita wa ame ga furu ka mo shirenai “It may rain tomorrow.” In fact, that is the only word children use to mean “tomorrow.” Adults, however, also use two synonyms for ashita, asu, and myoonichi, though not as frequently as ashita. Asu is more formal than ashita, and myoonichi is even more so. Ashita may appear in either informal or formal speech, while asu is more likely to appear in formal speech, and myoonichi is used only in very formal speech, as in Mata myoonichi ojama-sasete-itadakimasu “I shall pay you a visit again tomorrow.”
Just as ashita has its formal counterparts, other temporal expressions have their formal counterparts. For example:
| USUAL | FORMAL | |
| ototoi | issakujitsu | day before yesterday |
| kinoo | sakujitsu | yesterday |
| yuube | sakuban, sakuya | last night |
| asatte | myoogonichi | day after tomorrow |
ASOBU 遊ぶ to play
The verb asobu means “to play.”
(1) Kodomo-tachi wa niwa de asonde-imasu.
The children are playing in the yard.
Asobu, however, cannot be used in reference to sports, whether sports in general or specific sports such as yakyuu “baseball” or tenisu “tennis.” Sports require suru “to do” instead. In (2) below, therefore, shimashita must be used.
(2) Kinoo wa ichi-nichi-juu yakyuu o shimashita (not *asobi-mashita).
Yesterday I played baseball all day.
Playing games also requires suru.
(3) Toranpu o shimashoo (not *asobimashoo).
Let’s play cards.
(4) Yuube wa ichi-ji made maa-jan o shimashita (not *asobi-mashita).
Last night we played Mah Jongg until 1 o’clock.
Playing musical instruments requires different verbs, depending on the kind.
(5) Piano o hiite-kudasai (from hiku).
Please play the piano for me.
(6) Toranpetto o fuite-iru (from faku) no wa dare desu ka.
Who is the person playing the trumpet?
Asobu sometimes means “to be idle, to be out of work, to be not in use.”
(7)