ある Expressions

Table of Contents

This page explains N1 ある expressions. There’s a lot of them and they can be a little difficult.

とある + Noun – a certain
「」+ とある – It says…
とあれば – In that case/なら
とあって – Because of a special situation
にあって – In a (specific) situation
にあっても – Even in a (specific) situation
あっての – Owing to, due to

とある + Noun

A certain
とある + Noun

This とある is an adjective meaning “A certain”.
It does not have to be singular.

It reduces the scope of a word/phrase from a general statement to a specific statement.
I.E.

とある人が
A certain person…/Certain people..
人は
People are..

Examples

とある学校では有名な話だ
Its a famous story at a certain school.
とある国では車のガスも凍結するそうだ
I heard that the gas in vehicles freezes in a certain country.
とある社員が不満を抱いている
Some employees are unhappy.

「」+ とある

It states…
Quote + とある

You can think of this とある as an abbreviation of “と書いてある”.
It is used to give a quote of what is written/recorded somewhere.

*I also can’t find this listed on any other grammar site or book, but google does turn up results.

Examples

期間は「長期」とありますが、長期はどれぐらいでしょうか？
It says the term is “long term” but how long is long term?
傍線部A「からだが家のなかにあるというのはそういうことだ」とあるが、それはどういうことか。(Source)
The vertically underlined text says “So that’s what the body is inside the house means” but what does that mean?
(Probably that its inside the walls, or the concrete or something)

とあれば

In that case/なら
Plain form word + とあれば (Exactly like なら)

とあれば is another way of saying なら, but expresses naturalness or inevitability of the action following it.

Typically followed by a word like できない、仕方ない、etc.

A + とあれば + must do/will do/have to do

Examples

彼女のためとあれば何でもする
If its for her, I’ll (inevitably) do anything.
社長の意見とあれば反対するわけにはいかない
If its the CEO’s opinion, there’s no way you can disagree with it.
お望みとあれば何でも致します
If its your wish, I’ll do anything.
陛下のご命令とあれば仕方ない
If it’s the kings command there’s no choice.

とあって

Because of special situation…
Situation + とあって

とあって means “because of a special situation”. It is another literary way of saying ので/から
とあって expresses an out of the ordinary result because of an out of the ordinary situation.

Special situation + とあって + Special result

とあって is used with special, temporary situations.
The とあって situation must have occurred in the past or being occurring now.
It cannot be used for speculation about the future.

とあって is not used about the speaker themselves.

Although とあって is a written word, it may be heard in the news sometimes. (Source)

Examples

アイドルのサイン会とあって、近所の店のお客様が増えた
Because there was an idol giving out autographs, the nearby stores saw an increase in guests.
船舶事故とあって、橋が使えない
Due to a boating accident, you can’t use the bridge.
久しぶりの連休とあって、観光地は人でいっぱいだ
Since its the first long vacation in a while, sightseeing spots are all full of people.
予想外の大雪とあって、便が遅れている
Since there’s unexpected heavy snowfall, the flights are all delayed.*

にあって

Due to being in a place/position/situation
(Nouns) Place/Position/Situation + にあって

にあって is a location version of とあって above. It stresses the result of a location/time
It is a literary pattern and connects only to nouns.
Unlike とあって it does not need to be a temporary situation.
It still needs to be a unique or different situation from others, however.

Commonly used with 状況 or 立場, or a place of some kind.

Rather than focusing on a special, temporary cause, it focuses on the uniqueness of the location.

Examples

子供は成長期にあって、食べても食べてもお腹がすく
Because the kid is in a growth period, no matter how much he eats he’s still hungry.
ラクダは乾燥地にあって、こぶに栄養を蓄えることによって生き延びっているのである (完全マスターN1)
Because camels live in an arid environment, they survive by storing nutrients in their hump.
社長の立場にあって、会社を第一に考えないといけない
Because they are the CEO, they have to think about the company first.

にあっても

Even during
Time/place/Position + にあっても

にあっても means “Even in…/during”
It is the contrary version of にあって

Used for things that are unexpected.

Examples

不況にあっても売り上げが下がらない
Even in a depression, the profits aren’t going down.
お金がない状況にあっても、毎日幸せに過ごしている
Even in a situation without money, they are living everyday happily.

あっての

Owe it all to../Only happened because of
Noun + あっての + Noun

あっての expresses the main reason for some (good) result.
Similar to があったこそ

Examples

皆の協力あっての成功だ
A success made possible by everyone’s cooperation.
努力あっての成果だ
A result made possible by hard work.
お客さんあってのホテルだ
A hotel that exists because of guests. (I.E. no guests, no hotel, like any hotel).
N1合格はHakushiki Japaneseあってのことだ
Passing N1 was possible because of Hakushiki Japanese