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If I wanted to say the cat is on the table, which one of these sentences is correct or what's the difference?

「猫 は 机の上 に います」 or 「猫 は 机の上 です。」

macraf
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Carlos Mijares
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  • Related: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/45349/difference-between-%E3%81%A9%E3%81%93%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B-and-%E3%81%A9%E3%81%93%E3%81%AB%E3%81%84%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B-%E3%81%A9%E3%81%93%E3%81%AB%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%99%E3%81%8B – user3856370 Apr 13 '20 at 11:48
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    Both sentences are perfectly correct, but as a response to "where's the cat?", the latter may be preferred simply because it's shorter. – naruto Apr 14 '20 at 00:19

1 Answers1

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Think about it this way: 「机の上」 is a location, so if you just use the declarative like in the second sentence, you are stating that the cat is that location. The first sentence states that the cat exists in that location.

anon
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  • @ajsmart Why do you say that one of these attempts isn't totally correct? I think I must be missing something. – user3856370 Apr 13 '20 at 19:40
  • @user3856370 I was under the impression that a particle was needed between 上 and です. In retrospect, it's ok. I must be getting rusty. – ajsmart Apr 14 '20 at 12:20