Page 115 - Easy Japanese - Learn to Speak Japanese Quickly! (TUTTLE)

Satō-san ni mēru- I’ll email Ms. Sato.
shimasu.
Kaisha ni denwa I’ll call my office.
shimasu.

Amerika ni kaerimasu. I’ll go back to the US.

Recall that wa and mo replace the particle ga for the subject or particle o for the
object respectively. However, wa and mo are added to other particles (de, ni,
kara, made, etc.)

Amerika ni mo arimasu. They are in America, too.
Amerika ni wa I will not be going to America. (lit.,
ikimasen. As for America, I will not go.)

GRAMMAR NOTE Arimasu, Imasu = “There is”, “Have”, “Exists”

Both X arimasu and X imasu mean “there is X”, “X exists”, or “I have X”. The
difference is that arimasu is used for inanimate objects, plants, ideas, and events,
while imasu is used for living things, such as people and animals. Even bacteria

and ghosts are imasu. Live fish in the ocean are imasu while dead fish sold in a
market are arimasu. Mechanical factory robots are arimasu while humanoid
robots with artificial intelligence are more likely imasu. Now you get the idea.
There are two negative forms for arimasu: arimasen and nai desu. The latter
is less formal. For the negative forms of noun and adjective predicates, arimasen

and arimasen deshita can substituted for nai desu and nakatta desu
respectively. These alternatives sound a little more elegant.
Sushi ja nai desu.→ Sushi ja arimasen. It’s not sushi.

Sushi ja nakatta desu.→ Sushi ja arimasen It wasn’t sushi.
deshita.
Takaku nai desu.→ Takaku arimasen. It’s not expensive.

Takaku nakatta desu.→ Takaku arimasen It wasn’t
deshita. expensive.

The chart below shows all the forms including these alternatives.

Present/Future Tense Past Tense
Affirmative Negative Affirmative Negative
Verb predicate Arimasu. Nai desu. Arimashita. Nakatta desu.