to be・there is
Structure
- Noun + が・いる
[living things・animate objects]
Hi Bruce, Maybe you know why there is an example: “パトカーがいる。” がいる (JLPT N5) | Bunpro
Police car is not an animated/living thing, is it?
Thank you for your opinion.
Best regards
Hormon
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Hey @Hormon !
Not Bruce, but the reason for this is because although a police vehicle is not animate, it is driven by a police officer.
When がいる is used when talking about a police car, it implies that it is on duty with on duty police officers nearby. When がある is used, it will not carry this nuance and will be used to simply state that there is a police car.
Since it is a ‘working’ vehicle, when talking about a police car, がいる is used more frequently when pointing out to someone that there is a police car on the road.
I hope this answers your question!
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Thank you Fuga, I do appreciate. Does it mean that also my car can have 2 modes: the one when it is mentioned as a thing and the second when it is driven by me? Just trying to figure out when the things may have that dual approach. Thank you very much! Best regards Hormon
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がいる will be used when talking about emergency vehicles (in most cases), so a car driven by you will not be used with がいる in most cases, since only people who know you will know that it is your car.
For example, if your friend sees your car in a parking lot, they would not say, Hormonの車がいる, they would just say Hormonがいる or Hormonの車がある.
For non-emergency vehicles, you might hear something like 今日は車いっぱいいるね (while on the road or when referring to a full parking lot), but it is more common for people to say 今日は車いっぱい走ってる・停まってるね。
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Thank you very much Fuga!
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