# 居る, 有る and 成る



## Ilmen

Hello everybody.

I wonder in which circumstances the verbs 居る, 有る and 成る are written with kanjis. I know they are usually written in kana, above all in ～て*V* constructions, but I think there is still cases where they are written with kanji, doesn't it? Or did they really become obsolete?

Thank you in advance for your answers.


----------



## klassiandreams

Ilmen said:


> Hello everybody.
> 
> I wonder in which circumstances the verbs 居る, 有る and 成る are written with kanjis. I know they are usually written in kana, above all in ～て*V* constructions, but I think there is still cases where they are written with kanji, doesn't it? Or did they really become obsolete?
> 
> Thank you in advance for your answers.



Mmm I'm not too sure about this since I rarely see this in Kanji but 居る is used to indicate that existance, 有る is used to indicate  possession since iru can means both things and those kanji can be used to highlight which particular meaning the "iru" stands for. I havent seen 成る yet though...


----------



## Flaminius

Nowadays, auxiliary verbs are spelt out in hiragana.  As the three items you mentioned are predominantly used as auxiliaries, their hiragana notations have come to be the norm.


----------



## Ilmen

Thank you for your replies. What about 成る (なる) and 有る? Are they still written with kanji in certain cases?
Are they more often with kanji in verb compounds such 成り行き or 有り得る?


----------



## Flaminius

> What about 成る (なる) and 有る?


They are also auxiliary verbs that I mentioned above.
Eg.
2000円になります。
窓が開けてあります。



> Are they more often [written] with kanji in verb compounds such 成り行き or 有り得る?


It's a very difficult question to answer if you mean whether or not _naru_ and _aru_ are more often spelt in verb compounds than in other words and constructions.  Let's just say the script representations of the words that I see most often are なり行き and あり得る.


----------



## Ilmen

OK, I see. I understand these verbs are written in kana because they are auxiliary verbs, but what I wonder exactly is if kanji are still used in non-auxiliary usage, such in 「そこに活火山があります。」. This use of ある is not auxiliary, doesn't it?
Just like the English verb 'to have', that can be either auxiliary (to have done something, for example) or not (to have something).

If I right understood, they are almost alway written in kana, even if they are used as non-auxiliary verb?


----------



## Flaminius

> [T]hey are almost always written in kana, even if they are used as non-auxiliary verb.


Yes, you are right.


----------



## Ilmen

Thank you for the confirmation. 

So they are rarely used. But, in the case they are still used, what is the meaning of the use of the kanji?
It seems that 有る is still quite often used, maybe more than 居る.
I've find some examples:

「参加者の領地に*居*る場合、...」
「これは多数の言語版に記事が*有*るにも拘わらず、...」
「最後に、通話地域の問題が*有*る。」
「また中将棋や廣将棋では特定の駒を取ったときに*成*ることもある。」
「マメグンバイナズナ属（Lepidium）に分類する意見も*有*る。」

I wonder what feeling gives the use of the kanji in these fragments of text, so I would be grateful if someone could share his/her thought about that.


----------



## Ilmen

皆さん、今晩は。

I would really like to know the subtlety of the use of the kqnji with these three verbs, even though it is uncommon.
Is it a mark of insistance or alike, or an arbitrary choice?

Any thought is welcome.
Merci d'avance !

宜しくお願いします。

この度は、日本が耐えるすさまじい被災状態を心得ていますが、皆さんは無事なように。
非常に苦手な日本語を許してください。


----------



## mikun

Hi,
As Flaminius has explained, Sentences without Kanji in clear situation is a nowadays trend.
*As 居る *means originally 'exist', 'stay', 'remain' or 'be', we use in following situation.
mikunさんは今ワタミの介護付老人ホームに居るよ
*有る *means originally 'have', we use in following situation.
今手元に3千円有るよ
*成る* means originally 'to become', 'changed to', we use in following situation.
彼は苦学して東京電力の社長に成ったよ。
These are all colloquial.


----------



## Ilmen

So, if I'm right, you use kanji for these verbs only to insist on a particular meaning of the verb?

For instance, in the next sentence, we insist on the fact that in Kanto ant colonies, there exists one and only one queen per nest, it isn't?

「関東型と関西型に大別され、関東型は一つの巣に一匹の女王が*居る*が、関西型は複数の女王が同じ巣で暮らしている。」


----------



## Flaminius

*Ilmen* and *mikun*, I am very sceptical that how these words are represented in a written material (kanji or hiragana) has any difference in nuance.

I even suspect those 有る's in Wiki articles are results of careless use of IME.

Ah, but this one is surely okay:
「また中将棋や廣将棋では特定の駒を取ったときに*成*ることもある」
Here, 成る is a technical term used in _shōgi_ games.


----------

