あります vs います — is it really just people vs objects?

Question

seeing 「教室に机があります」and wondering if あります/います is purely about "living vs non-living" or if there's more nuance I should know as a beginner

mizu_ba55e901 · Accepted Answer

At N5 level it really is that clean: あります = existence/possession for inanimate objects ("there is/are"), marked with Obj

Answer

At N5 level it really is that clean: あります = existence/possession for inanimate objects ("there is/are"), marked with Object + が + あります, like 机があります or この公園にたくさんの花があります. います is the counterpart used for people and most living creatures. It's a simple binary split you can rely on for now — the nuance comes later at higher levels, but for N5 purposes, non-living = あります, living = います.

Answer

對，我背嘅時候都係咁記：有生命用います，冇生命用あります，簡單又好用。