あります／ います practice

[Guregori]

Hi,

I'm currently studying constructions using あります and います and would be grateful if you could check the practice sentences I've written:


机の上に本やコンピュータあります。
On the desk there are books and a computer.

犬が机の下にいます。
The dog's under the table.

私の自転車が外にあります。
My bike's outside.

傘がドアの後ろにあります。
The umbrella is behind the door.

机の上には本はありません。
There are no books on the desk.

家にはだれもいません。
There isn't anyone in the house.

犬はどこにいますか。
Where's the dog?

本が引き出しの中にあります。
The book's in the drawer.

Thanks!
Greg

 

[OoTmaster]

I was always told that it was always. Subj の direction に object が あります/います。 For something being in a direction of something else. 机の下に犬がいます。 Would be your second sentence for example. I don't know if this is the only way to say it though. So that is really all the advice I can offer.

 

[Toritoribe]

Just one correction
机の上に本やコンピュータがあります。

The rest are OK.

There is no problem in 犬が机の下にいます. Also, the subject is indicated by が, not の.;-)

 

[OoTmaster]

Ooops. I think I mixed them up in my head. Shows me what I know. I should know better than trying to help with something I don't fully understand. ^-^'

 

[Toritoribe]

机の下に犬がいます is also correct, of course. The order of the words changes where the emphasis/focus is on.

 

[OoTmaster]

Isn't the same as in english when we would change the stress on whichever part is more important? Like in "机の下に犬がいます。" the location is more important for example someone may have inquired as to where the dog was?

 

[Angel Valis]

Isn't the same as in english when we would change the stress on whichever part is more important? Like in "机の下に犬がいます。" the location is more important for example someone may have inquired as to where the dog was?

There really isn't any (much) stress in Japanese. The particles convey the words', phrases', and clauses' relations to the sentence, and so word order isn't (usually) all that important. Also, I'm pretty sure that 犬 is the subject in that sentence, not 机. I don't think that ある / いる really take direct objects (at least not by the definition of direct object in English).

 

[Mike Cash]

あります／ います practice

Stress doesn't play the huge role in Japanese that it does in English. There are, of course, methods for achieving the same results.

 

[OoTmaster]

I was asking if the word order was achieving the same thing. I didn't mean that the Japanese language uses stress. I was trying to compare it to English to see if I understood how the word order changed the meaning. I guess my question wasn't stated right. I was wondering if the order of words changed the meaning in japanese speech in a similar way that stress does in English. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Guregori]

Just one correction
机の上に本やコンピュータがあります。

The rest are OK.

There is no problem in 犬が机の下にいます. Also, the subject is indicated by が, not の.;-)

Great! Thanks for your help.

 

[Toritoribe]

Isn't the same as in english when we would change the stress on whichever part is more important? Like in "机の下に犬がいます。" the location is more important for example someone may have inquired as to where the dog was?

The focus tends to put more on the begining of the sentence.

 

[OoTmaster]

Thanks Toritoribe. That answers the question that I had.