Hi! I’m Mai-sensei, a native Japanese tutor.
Textbook Japanese is useful, but have you ever heard a native speaker say something and thought, “Wait… that’s not how I learned it”?
In real life, native Japanese often bends the “rules” in ways textbooks don’t fully explain. That’s exactly what this post is about.
Welcome to my “Nobody Told Me This Usage!” series. Today’s topic: ある (aru) vs いる (iru).
This is something that actually happened to me while walking in Japan with a foreign friend.
It was before I started formally studying Japanese language education.
I said:
“Ah, there are so many taxis in front of the station.”
In Japanese, what I said was:
駅前にタクシーめっちゃいる。
eki-mae ni takushii (taxi) meccha iru.
My friend immediately stopped me and said:
“You are wrong! Objects don’t use iru. You should say aru, right?”
At first glance, that correction makes perfect sense.
Textbooks clearly say:
- いる (iru) is for living things
- ある (aru) is for objects
So why does タクシーがいる (takushii ga iru) sound completely natural to native speakers?
Are We Referring to the Drivers? Personification?
Many learners ask questions like:
- “Are you talking about the drivers?”
- “Is this personification?”
- “Is this just wrong Japanese?”
The answer is: it’s not about grammar rules alone.
It’s about how the situation is perceived.
When a Japanese speaker says:
駅前にタクシーがめっちゃいる
eki-mae ni takushii (taxi) ga meccha iru.
The focus is not on “vehicles as objects.”
It’s on taxis as active units waiting to do a job.
In other words, the taxis feel present, ready, and intentional.
They are not just “placed there.” They are there for a reason.
Why “タクシーがある” Feels Strange Here
Now compare it with:
駅前にタクシーがめっちゃある
eki-mae ni takushii (taxi) ga meccha aru.
This sentence is grammatically correct.
But to a native speaker, it often gives a very different impression.
It can sound like:
- abandoned taxis
- illegally parked vehicles
- something left there without purpose
There’s a subtle “static” or “unattended” feeling.
So even though both sentences are technically possible, they paint very different mental pictures.
Another Example: Bicycles
Let’s look at a similar pair.
自転車めっちゃいるけど、今日なんかあるの？
jitensha meccha iru kedo, kyoo nanka aru no?
This sounds like:
- There’s an event
- Maybe a bicycle race
- Something is about to happen
The bicycles feel connected to people and activity.
Now compare:
自転車めっちゃあるけど、今日なんかあるの？
jitensha meccha aru kedo, kyoo nanka aru no?
This feels more like:
- a bike sale
- a collection of removed or abandoned bicycles
- objects gathered in one place
Again, the difference is not logic.
It’s how Japanese speakers interpret intention, activity, and context.
The Key Point: Japanese Is Context-Driven
From a learner’s perspective, it’s natural to think:
“A taxi is an object, so aru must be correct.”
But native Japanese doesn’t work purely on classification.
It works on how something exists in the scene.
- Active, purposeful, human-connected → いる
- Static, placed, unattended → ある
This is why Japanese can feel frustrating or illogical at times.
A tiny word choice can completely change the atmosphere of a sentence.
Why This Matters for Learners
This kind of nuance is rarely explained in textbooks.
Even advanced learners can feel confused or “corrected” unfairly.
But once you understand that Japanese often prioritizes how things feel and function in context,
these choices start to make sense.
And yes—Japanese can be mendokusai like that.
But that’s also what makes it fascinating.
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