Inanimate -or not? (Newbie Q)

firetail · 21 Jan 2009

Hey and thank you for your one minute
I stumbled on a small problem on this educational software i tried out:
A line: "Kuruma wa shiroi iro o shite imasu", that is is contradictory to many other sources that say that "iro" for animate- and "aru" for inanimate objects. So, its about a car beign white, but what is confusing is that it has iro- even twice.
I thought maybe it was either because of the adjective-nature of the sentence, or then about a running car, that could in some sense be thought as "animate", though that sounds extremely farfetched hehe
Anyone know what this is about?

Alma · 21 Jan 2009

this first iro means colour

just to be less confused

Ashikaga · 21 Jan 2009

firetail said:
Hey and thank you for your one minute
I stumbled on a small problem on this educational software i tried out:
A line: "Kuruma wa shiroi iro o shite imasu", that is is contradictory to many other sources that say that "iro" for animate- and "aru" for inanimate objects. So, its about a car beign white, but what is confusing is that it has iro- even twice.
I thought maybe it was either because of the adjective-nature of the sentence, or then about a running car, that could in some sense be thought as "animate", though that sounds extremely farfetched hehe
Anyone know what this is about?

First of all, "iro" is not a conjugated form of the verb "iru" but the word for "color".

While the sentence IS grammatically correct, it sounds a bit awkward (to me).
I would say something like "Kuruma no iro wa shiro desu" (The color of the car is white.)

edit : Alma beat me to it! Hey, Alma! LTNS!

Amigo · 21 Jan 2009

The IRU in that sentence is not about "being" but "doing".

In this case IRU plays an auxiliar roll for SURU "do", but not existence.

Literally it would be "the car is doing a white colour"

For existencial meaning you need the particle GA after de subject:

NEKO (cat) GA IRU

KURUMA GA ARU

Nice if I helped you

ShadowSpirit · 21 Jan 2009

Basically you need to realize that there are more than one use for iru. Yes, iru is used for describing the existence of an animate object. e.g. inu wa koko ni imasu (the dog is/exists here.) Yet iru is also used with verbs to describe an action that is taking place. Think of it as being like "ing" is for English verbs. taberu (eat) tabete imasu (eating), nomu (drink) nonde imasu (drinking)

You'll notice that the verbs taberu and nomu change to what is called the 'te' form. Don't concern yourself too much yet with why this happens. Just realize that iru is used to describe existence for animate objects, or used with verbs in the te form to describe an action in progress.

As for the double iro. Shiroi means white, and iro means color. So the shiroi iro translates literally to "white color."

Putrefaction · 22 Jan 2009

I was going to ask why it was wa imasu and not ga arimasu as it is not a living person but I didn't want to derail the topic on 2nd post, probably with wrong information.

firetail · 22 Jan 2009

Thanks alot for your replies everyone. This explains it really well.
I should have noticed that iro before even asking, but sleepy brain confused. Especially learning the further use of iru was essential. Im glad i asked, thanks alot!

ShadowSpirit · 22 Jan 2009

No problem. If you have anymore questions or still aren't quite sure of the uses for iru. Feel free to ask.

Inanimate -or not? (Newbie Q)

firetail

後輩

Alma

nature's sweet success

Ashikaga

もちもちした食感

Amigo

先輩

ShadowSpirit

normal is so passe

Putrefaction

不幸中の幸い. . . がない.

firetail

後輩

ShadowSpirit

normal is so passe

Similar threads