Part 8: あります/います and Describing Where Things Are

Both あります and います are used to say something along the lines of "there is/are ..." Even though they are both used to say pretty much the same thing, each one of these words is used for different types of objects. あります is used when you are talking about a non-living object, while います is used when the object is living. Here are some examples:
きっちてんがあります。 "There is a coffee shop."
ねこがいます。 "There is a cat."

If you were to use あります when you are talking about a normally living object, it is pretty much the same as saying that it is dead.


Previously I went over how to talk about where things are by using ここ, そこ, and あそこ. While these work fine, they are not very specific. If you want to explain where something while using some other object as reference you can use one of the following words:

みぎ	==	To the right of	||	ひだり	==	To the left of
まえ	==	In front of	||	うしろ	==	Behind
なか	==	Inside	||	うえ	==	On/Above
した	==	Under/Beneath	||	ちかく	==	Near
となり	==	Next to

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Making a sentence using these words is pretty simple. The object who's location you are describing will be followed with the particle は. The objects that you are using as reference are followed by the particle の and if there are more than one, you place a と between them. After this you use the descriptive word from the list above, and end the sentence with です. Here is an example:
かさはテーブルのしたです。 "The umbrella is under the table."
レストランはデパートとびょういんのあいだです。
    "The restaurant is between the department store and the hospital."

かさ   --   Umbrella
テーブル   --   Table
レストラン   --   Restaurant
デパート   --   Department Store
びょういん   --   Hospital