居ます（います、imasu）
- to be

The Japanese verb 居ます います means "to be" or "to exist" (specifically for living beings, such as people and animals). It indicates the presence or existence of someone or something at a particular location. It is the polite form of the verb いる.

⚫︎犬が公園に います Translation: The dog is in the park. ⚫︎友達は今、家に いますか？ Translation: Are your friends at home now? ⚫︎猫がソファーに います Translation: The cat is on the sofa.

⚫︎Use います to talk about the presence of people or animals. ⚫︎It's used when you want to be polite. ⚫︎You can use it with a location particle such as に to indicate where someone or something is.

⚫︎います is written in hiragana as います. ⚫︎The kanji form is 居ます. ⚫︎The plain form is いる and the polite form of いる is います. ⚫︎The okurigana (the suffix hiragana) is ます.

⚫︎いる (plain form, same meaning) ⚫︎あります (for inanimate objects, meaning "to be/exist")

⚫︎While there isn't a direct antonym, words that imply absence could be considered opposites. ⚫︎いません (negative polite form: is not/are not there)

田中さんは学校に います ・Translation: Mr. Tanaka is at school. ・Explanation: This sentence indicates that Mr. Tanaka is present at school.

猫は庭に います ・Translation: The cat is in the garden. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the location of the cat.

The verb いる (from which います derives) is believed to have developed from the verb 居る, which originally meant "to stay" or "to reside". The kanji 居 conveys the idea of existing or being present. The addition of the polite suffix ます creates います.