Talk:居る

to have

@Eirikr: This edit isn't a misinterpretation of the sense given, is it? (currently questioning why I did this, since to me it seems like 彼氏いますか belongs to the first sense) —suzukaze (t・c) 05:47, 13 November 2017 (UTC)

@suzukaze, I think it's fine. The basic construction in Japanese for this kind of thing is basically:

• [PERSON NOUN]に[NOUN]が（ある・いる・おる）

... where the choice of ある・いる・おる depends on 1) the animacy of the subject noun (for ある), and 2) the dialect and social register (for いる or おる).

The strict English rendering of this construction would be more like "there is a [NOUN] by / with / near [PERSON NOUN]". "Having" often correlates more strictly to Japanese 飼う for a pet, 持つ for in one's hand, which are restricted semantically in important ways to ownership or physical holding, that kind of thing.

HTH, ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 17:46, 13 November 2017 (UTC)