iru いる, 居る - To Exist

In Japanese, iru いる, also spelled iru 居る, means "to be" or "to exist" somewhere. It doesn't mean "to be" something, for that, see the copula desu です.

Not to be confused with the iru いる that means "to need." Or with the other iru いる.

When iru comes after the te form of verbs, it becomes the te-iru ている form, which is not what this article is about.

Note that aru ある is the inanimate counterpart of iru いる. Since aru can mean "to have" sometimes, iru can mean "to have" sometimes too.

The verb iru often used with the location pronouns koko, soko, asoko, doko ここ, そこ, あそこ, どこ. For example:

• watashi wa koko ni iru
  私はここにいる
  I exist here.
  I'm here.
• kare wa doko ni iru?!
  彼はどこにいる？！
  He exists where?!
  Where he exists?!
  Where he is?!
  Where is he?!

Some examples with relative clauses:

• asoko ni iru hito
  あそこにいる人
  The person [that] exists there.
  The person [that] is there.
• watashi ga iru basho 私がいる場所
  watashi no iru basho 私のいる場所
  The place [where] I exist.
  The place [where] I am.
• See: Ga が Becoming No の in a Relative Clause.

The verb iru いる is only used with animated stuff. Animated as in animals. Which happens to include humans, too, which are animals, too, despite what some humans may tell you.

• asoko ni iru neko
  あそこにいる猫
  The cat [that] exists there.
  The cat [that] is there.

When you want to say something "is" there, and that something isn't a person or animal, you use the verb aru ある instead. For example:

• buki wa koko ni aru
  武器はここにある
  Weapons exist here.
  There are weapons here.
• asoko ni aru ki
  あそこにある木
  A tree exists there.
  There's a tree there.
• mizu ga aru basho 水がある場所
  mizu no aru basho 水のある場所
  A place [where] water exists.
  A place [where] there's water.

The verb aru ある can also mean "to have," in the sense that something "exists in possession" of someone else. This meaning translates to iru いる, too. For example:

• kane ga aru金がある
  Money exists in [my] possession.
  [I] have money.
• neko ga iru
  猫がいる
  Cat exists in [my] possession.
  [I] have a cat.
• watashi niwa anata ga iru
  私にはあなたがいる
  For me, there's you.
  I have you [by my side].

The negative form of aru ある would be aranai あらない, but that form is not used. Instead, the i-adjective nai ない, "nonexistent," is used to say an inanimate thing doesn't exist. As for iru いる, the negative form inai いない is used. For example:

• asoko ni mizu ga nai
  あそこに水がない
  Water is nonexistent there.
  There's no water there.
• asoko ni neko ga inai
  あそこに猫がいない
  Cat is nonexistent there.
• Due to how plurals work in Japanese, this can mean two things:
• There are no cats there. (a cat-less land. Terrifying.)
• The cat isn't there. (one specific cat we care about isn't there.)

A couple examples with the "to not have" meaning:

• kane ga nai
  金がない
  Money is nonexistent in my possession.
  I have no money.
  I don't have money.
• kanojo ga inai
  彼女がいない
  Girlfriend is nonexistent in my possession.
  I have no girlfriend.
  I don't have a girlfriend.
• Since kanojo 彼女 also means "she," the personal pronoun, the phrase above can also mean "she isn't [here]" depending on context.

Some other conjugations:

• kimi ga ite yokatta
  君がいてよかった
  You existing [there] was good.
  You existing [in my possession] was good.
• I'm glad you were there for me.
• I'm glad I had you.
• ite いて
  The te-form of iru いる.
• Imouto Sae Ireba Ii.
  妹さえいればいい。
  So Long As Younger Sisters Exist It's Good.
• ireba いれば
  Conditional ba-form of iru いる.
  If it exists. If I have them.