いる means “be present” or “be somewhere” when speaking about people and animals. It contrasts with ある for ordinary objects.

The idea

いる is an ichidan verb: います is polite non-past, いません is its polite negative, いました is polite past and いて is the て-form. Use place に + person or animal が + います, or mark a known topic with は.

Patterns to compare
JapaneseForm
いるDictionary form
いますPolite non-past
いませんPolite negative
いましたPolite past
いてて-form
いないPlain negative

Examples

  • 公園こうえんに猫ねこがいます。There is a cat in the park.
  • 家いえに犬いぬがいます。There is a dog at home.
  • 駅えきに友ともだちがいますか。Is a friend at the station?
  • 部屋へやに先生せんせいはいません。The teacher is not in the room.
  • 昨日きのう図書館としょかんに学生がくせいがいました。There were students in the library yesterday.
  • 私わたしは今いま家いえにいます。I am at home now.

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Watch out

The independent verb いる locates a person or animal. In a pattern such as 読んでいます, いる follows a て-form as an auxiliary; it is a different construction.

Try it yourself

  1. 公園こうえん＿猫ねこがいます。（に／で） Choose the particle in brackets.

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    に

    に marks the place where the cat is; で is normally used for the place of an action.

  2. 部屋へやに先生せんせいは＿。（いる） Complete with the polite negative of the verb.

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    いません

    いません is the polite negative of います; は marks the teacher as the topic.

  3. 庭にわに犬いぬが＿。（います／あります） Choose the verb in brackets.

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    います

    A dog is an animal, so its presence is expressed with います rather than あります.

Use it today

Say where two people or animals are now and where someone was yesterday. Use に for the location and check the tense.