A learner asking for a location in an ordinary Japanese neighbourhood
Foundation · Location & Existence · M2 Closing Lesson

Now go find it.

どこにありますか・どこにいますか

You can say what exists. You can say who is there. You can locate a known thing. Now turn all of that Japanese outward and ask the question that actually gets you somewhere.

01 · The two questions

Where is it? Where are they?

The choice you learned in the last lesson stays with you. Things take あります. People and animals take います. Add どこに, and the location becomes the missing information.

THING / PLACE
Doko ni arimasu ka.
Where is it?
PERSON / ANIMAL
Doko ni imasu ka.
Where are they?
Question shape

Known target
→ where?
→ right verb

駅は どこに ありますか。Eki wa doko ni arimasu ka. · Where is the station?
田中さんは どこに いますか。Tanaka-san wa doko ni imasu ka. · Where is Tanaka?
Answer with a real place.Here, there and over there still work—but now you can also answer with real locations such as a park or the second floor. Hear those exact examples below.
02 · Getting somewhere

Where is the station?

This is the sort of Japanese that can change the next ten minutes of your day.

Eki wa doko ni arimasu ka.
Where is the station?
Asoko ni arimasu.
It is over there.

The answer may be only three words long. Still considerably more useful than staring thoughtfully at a map you cannot quite understand.

Asking where a local station is
Asking where a convenience store is on an ordinary Japanese street
03 · Nearby

Where is the convenience store?

The destination is known. Its position is not. That makes は + どこに exactly the tool you need.

Konbini wa doko ni arimasu ka.
Where is the convenience store?
Soko ni arimasu.
It is there.
04 · Two people · Two voices

Finding people works the same way.

The structure survives. Only the existence verb changes. Listen to these as conversations—not as two lines read by the same invisible narrator.

Where is Tanaka?

Female question → Male response
FEMALE · QUESTION
Tanaka-san wa doko ni imasu ka.
Where is Tanaka?
MALE · RESPONSE
Asoko ni imasu.
Tanaka is over there.

Where is Yamada?

Male question → Female response
MALE · QUESTION
Yamada-san wa doko ni imasu ka.
Where is Yamada?
FEMALE · RESPONSE
Koko ni imasu.
Yamada is here.
05 · Beyond here and there

The answer can be a real place.

ここ, そこ and あそこ are useful. But Japan contains more than three locations. Your answer can name the place directly.

Toire wa doko ni arimasu ka.
Where is the toilet?
Nikai ni arimasu.
It is on the second floor.
Notice what happened: the question stayed familiar, but the answer became more precise. This is how a small grammar pattern starts becoming genuinely useful Japanese.
Asking a staff member for a location inside a Japanese public building
Looking for an acquaintance in a Japanese shared space
06 · Person check

Who? Use います.

A person is not an object to be located with あります. Keep the distinction alive even when the rest of the sentence feels automatic.

Tanaka-san wa doko ni imasu ka.
Where is Tanaka?
Asoko ni imasu.
Tanaka is over there.
Inu wa doko ni imasu ka.
Where is the dog?
Kōen ni imasu.
The dog is in the park.
07 · Switch the conversation

Both voices get to ask.

A useful language course should sound increasingly like people speaking to people.

The station

Female question → Male response
FEMALE · QUESTION
Eki wa doko ni arimasu ka.
Where is the station?
MALE · RESPONSE
Asoko ni arimasu.
It is over there.

The convenience store

Male question → Female response
MALE · QUESTION
Konbini wa doko ni arimasu ka.
Where is the convenience store?
FEMALE · RESPONSE
Soko ni arimasu.
It is there.
08 · M2 checkpoint

Look at what you can do now.

These are not isolated grammar facts anymore. They form a small working system for talking about the world around you.

PointHere · there · over there · where
Locate politelyThis way · that way · which way
Say what existsThings · people and animals
Ask and locateWhat? · Who? · Where?
A few lessons ago these were separate pieces. Now you can ask what is somewhere, who is somewhere, where a known place is, and where a person is. That is a meaningful little piece of Japanese—not merely a completed worksheet.
09 · Real Japan Mission

Ask before you search.

The next time you need to locate something in Japan, resist the reflex to reach immediately for a map. Pick one simple destination you can name in Japanese and ask where it is. Listen for an answer meaning here, there, over there, or a real location such as the second floor.

Success is not delivering a perfect sentence at cinematic speed. Success is asking, hearing enough of the answer, and moving in the right direction. Language becomes yours through small successful moments like that.
Learner walking independently through an ordinary Japanese neighbourhood at evening
Now go find it

The neighbourhood has started answering back.

A few lessons ago, you could point to here and there. Then you learned what exists, who is present, and how to ask about them. Now you can walk into an ordinary piece of Japan, ask where something is, understand a simple answer—and keep moving. The streets have not become simpler. You have become less silent inside them.

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