ぶんぽう (Grammar)

To say that a person or animal is located somewhere, Japanese uses the verb います instead of あります.　In addition, some moving vehicles, such as trains, buses, and taxis, are commonly treated as animate for grammatical purposes and are also used with います. ⚠Elevators and escalators move, but they are considered part of the building which does not move around. As a result, Robert says そこにエレベーターがあります.

As with あります, the particles は and が indicate different kinds of information.

✅ Type 1: Who Is There?

Use the following pattern when asking or stating who is at a particular location.

Type 1	Locationに	Subjectが	います
A1:	へやに	だれが	いますか。	Who is in the room?
B1:		スミスさんが	います。	Ms. Smith is in the room.
		スミスさん	です。	Ms. Smith. (short version)

In the short answer, が is omitted because がいます is understood from the question.

✅ Type 2: Where Is Someone?

Type 2	Topicはわ	Locationに	います
A2:	スミスさんは	どこに	いますか。	Where is Ms. Smith?
B2:		としょかんに	います。	She's at the library.
		としょかん	です。	Library. (short version)

In the short answer, に is usually omitted because にいます is understood from the question.

✅ Type 3: Asking Where am I?

When you are lost and want to ask Where am I? or Where are we?, Japanese normally uses a different expression: ここはどこですか (Where am I? / Where are we?) as shown in かいわ２. Essentially, this is an identity question about the current location (ここ).

Type 3	ここはわ	Identity of Location	です
Alice:	ここは	どこ	ですか。	Where am I? (Lit. What place is this?)
Robert:	(ここは)	Ｃとうのまえ	です。	You are in front of Building C.

English speakers are often surprised that ここはどこですか is used because it literally means Where is this place? rather than Where am I? Japanese focuses on the speaker's current location (ここ) rather than directly asking about the speaker. Since the speaker is already at ここ ("here"), asking ここはどこですか naturally means, What place is this? In English, the equivalent idea is usually expressed by asking about the speaker as seen by someone nearby: Where am I? or Where are we? Notice that Japanese does not normally say わたしはどこにいますか to mean Where am I? That sentence literally asks Where is me?. A Japanese listener might jokingly answer, ここにいますよ (You're here!), implying, Well, you're standing right here!.

✅ Saying Where Someone Lives

The verb expression すんでいます means live or be living. It is used to state where a person resides.

• A: スミスさんは どこに すんでいますか。　 Where do you live, Ms. Smith?
• B: りょうに すんでいます。　I live in the dormitory.

When you answer a yes-no question with いいえ, the negative answer often implies a contrast. For example, suppose someone asks:

• Is your brother at home?

If you answer:

• No, he isn't.

you normally mean He isn't at home (but he is somewhere else). You are not denying that you have a brother—you are only denying one possible location. Japanese often makes this contrast explicit by using the particle は. In this use, は is called the contrastive は because it contrasts what is not true with another possibility that is left unstated.

Replacing が with は

When は marks a contrast, it replaces the subject marker が. The answer below implies There may be other rooms or facilities in the dorm.

Q:	りょうに	キッチンが ありますか。	Is there a kitchen in the dorm?
A:		キッチンは ありません。	No, there isn't one.

Adding は after に

When the contrasted element is a location, は is added after the location marker に, forming には.

Q:	たなかさんは	りょうに いますか。	Is Ms. Tanaka in the dorm?
A:		りょうには いません。	No, she isn't in the dorm. (She may be somewhere else.)

Here, りょうには contrasts the dormitory with another possible location.

Summary

When は expresses contrast,

• が changes to は when the subject is contrasted.
  • キッチンがあります → キッチンはありません
• は is added after に when the location is contrasted.
  • りょうにいます → りょうにはいません

In negative answers, this contrastive は often suggests that the statement is true only with respect to the thing or place being contrasted, while another possibility remains open. This is why negative answers with は often carry an implied meaning such as but somewhere else or but something else.

In Dialogue 2, when Robert knocks on the door of Dr. Yamada's office, no one answers. Robert then says Dr. Yamada is not here and Alice agrees:

R1:	山田せんせいは いませんね。	Dr. Yamada isn't here.
A1:	ええ。	No.

Although Alice says ええ in Japanese, the natural English translation is No. This is because ええ means "I agree with what you just said," and Robert's statement is already negative ("Dr. Yamada isn't here"). English instead responds to the negative content of the statement, so No is the idiomatic translation. If Alice disagrees with what Robert says, her response should be いいえ as shown below (A2).

R1:	山田せんせいは いませんね。	Dr. Yamada isn't here.
A2:	いいえ、いますよ。	Yes, he is.

The difference between English and Japanese becomes especially clear when responding to a negative question.

A:	このへんに ＡＴＭは ありませんか。	There isn't an ATM around here?
R1:	ええ、ありませんね。	No, there isn't.
vs.
R2:	いいえ、ありますよ。	Yes, there is.

In this dialogue, Alice asks a question based on the assumption that there is no ATM nearby. If Robert agrees with her assumption, he replies R1: ええ、ありませんね (Literally, "Yes, I agree. There isn't one."). If Robert disagrees with her assumption, he replies R2: いいえ、ありますよ (Literally, "No, I disagree! There is one."). In summary, ええ／いいえ express agreement or disagreement with the speaker's assumption, not whether the answer itself is affirmative or negative. By contrast, English yes and no indicate whether the answer is affirmative or negative. For this reason, many Japanese speakers simply answer with the verb: ありません (There isn't one) and あります (There is one). Answering with the verb makes the meaning immediately clear and avoids possible misunderstanding for learners.

Location words such as まえ, うしろ, こちら, and むこう are often used together with building names. In these expressions, the building name comes first, followed by the position word, to mean “[the position] of [the building]” or “the building’s location.”

病院(びょういん)の	まえ うしろ	front of the hospital back of the hospital
病院の	こちら✅ むこう✅	this side of the hospital the other side of hospital
病院の	みぎ ひだり	right of the hospital left of the hospital
病院の	となり	next door to the hospital
病院の	よこ	side of the hospital
病院の	ちかく そば きんじょ	place near the hospital
病院の	なか そと	inside of the hospital outside of the hospital
病院の	うえ した	above/on the hospital underneath the hospital

✅ Both むこう (far side) and こちら (near side) refer to the location relative to the location of the speaker.　X marks the location of　the speaker in the picture above. When you want to focus on WHERE something is located, use the following pattern, in which the item is marked as the topic: としょかんは、びょういんの となりに あります。

Question Forms	Answer Forms
としょかんは どこに ありますか。 としょかんは どこですか。	びょういんの となりに あります。　 びょういんの となり です。
Where is the library?	It is located next to the hospital.
スタジアムは どこに ありますか。 スタジアムは どこですか。	えきの むこうに あります。 えきの むこうです。
Where is the stadium?	It's the far/other side of the station.

In contrast, when you want to focus on WHAT exists in a particular location, use a pattern in which the location comes first:

Locationに	Objectが	Verb
びょういんのうしろに	スタジアムが	あります。
A stadium is behind the hospital.
えきのまえに	こうえんが	あります。
A park is in front of the station.
びょういんのとなりに	としょかんが	あります。
A library is next to the hospital.
びょういんのみぎに	えきが	あります。
A station is on the right of the hospital.
びょういんのよこに	バスが	います。
A bus is at the side of the hospital.

To focus on the identity of something associated with a given location, the following pattern can be used. This is a familiar identity question Xは なんですか.

	Locationはわ	なん	です（か）
A:	えきのむこうは	なん	ですか。
	What's beyond the station?
B:		スタジアム	です。
	A stadium.

Select the appropriate answer to each of the questions below when two buildings (としょかん: library and がくせいかいかん: student center) are next to each other.

1. としょかんは どこに ありますか。 2. としょかんの となりに なにが ありますか。

A. がくせいかいかんです。 B. がくせいかいかんの となりです。

The answer: 1 → B; 2 → A.

To ask where something is within a particular place, use the expression Place + のどこ (where in Place). For example, suppose your roommate forgot to bring his Japanese homework and calls you to help him find it.

R1:	そこに ぼくの にほんごのしゅくだいが ありますか。
	Is my Japanese homework there?
L1:	へやのどこに ありますか。
	Where in the room is it?
R2:	ぼくの コンピュータのよこに あります。
	It is next to my computer.
L1:	あ、はい。
	Oh, OK.

⚠ Learners sometimes say あそこに ぼくの にほんごのしゅくだいが ありますか when talking to someone on the phone. This is incorrect because あそこ refers to a place away from both the speaker and the listener. Since the homework is near the listener, the correct expression is そこ, meaning there (near you).