Page 96 - Basic Japanese

never wa, ga, o (discussed in 3.6.), de (discussed in 3.5), or

ni.

When an English sentence containing the word is makes
sense if you reword it as ‘(something) exists,’ the Japanese

equivalent is arimasu:

ATM ga arimasu.

There is an ATM.

When the English sentence can be reworded
‘(something) exists in a place’ or ‘(something) is located,’

the usual Japanese equivalent is also arimasu:

Rimokon wa soko ni arimasu.
The remote control is there.

But often, especially if the topic is itself a place, for

example, a city, a building, a street, a location, either desu
or (ni) arimasu may be used:

Eigakan wa asoko desu./Eigakan wa asoko ni arimasu.
The movie theater is over there.

Odaiba wa doko desu ka./Odaiba wa doko ni arimasu ka.

Where is Odaiba?

When an English sentence containing the word is makes
sense reworded as ‘(somebody) exists (in a place)’ or

‘(somebody) stays (in a place)’ or ‘(somebody) is located,’
the Japanese equivalent is imasu ‘stays’: