～ものがある (mono ga aru): Meaning, Usage, and Grammar

How ～ものがある expresses perceived qualities, impressions, and judgments: the role of もの, its structure and register, and how it differs from similar patterns

Category: Niche Japanese

What does ～ものがある (mono ga aru) mean in Japanese, how is this grammar pattern used, and what nuance does it convey? Why doesn’t a sentence like 彼の話には人を引きつけるものがある simply mean that “the way he speaks is engaging”?

The construction ～ものがある (mono ga aru) is used to express a quality, impression, force, or characteristic that the speaker recognizes as being present in a person, situation, behavior, or phenomenon.

Rather than attributing a property directly through a simple adjective or verb, ～ものがある presents that property as something that can be felt, recognized, or perceived in the referent.

彼の話には人を引きつけるものがある。

There is something about the way he speaks that draws people in.

The English rendering “there is something about… that…” captures how the construction works particularly well. The speaker is not simply stating that 彼の話は人を引きつける, “the way he speaks draws people in”: instead, they identify something present in the way he speaks, a quality or force that produces that effect.

And this is precisely where もの comes into play.

In its original meaning, もの denotes a “thing,” something that can be conceived of as an entity. In its many grammatical uses, this concrete meaning becomes weaker, but it does not necessarily disappear entirely.

Even when it no longer refers to a material object, もの often retains the ability to give substance to what precedes it, conceptually treating it as something that can be recognized, observed, or perceived.

This feature is also important for understanding the broader difference between もの and other formal nouns in Japanese, particularly こと. Whereas こと readily represents facts, events, experiences, or content as abstract concepts, もの maintains a stronger connection with the idea of something perceived as having, at least conceptually, a certain substance of its own.

In ～ものがある, this property of もの becomes particularly transparent. A characteristic that could otherwise be stated directly is transformed into “something” that the speaker recognizes as being present:

その男の証言には、どこか不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about that man’s testimony.

The sentence does not simply say that the testimony is 不自然, that is, “unnatural.”

Instead, the construction singles out a perceived quality within it: the speaker senses that there is something unnatural about it, even without necessarily identifying one precise element that creates that impression.

The same mechanism can apply not only to static characteristics, but also to effects, reactions, and emotions:

彼のスピーチには、人を感動させるものがある。

There is something about his speech that moves people.

母校がなくなるのは、寂しいものがある。

Knowing that my old school will be gone leaves a certain sense of sadness.

For this reason, ～ものがある is often explained through formulas such as “you get the sense that…”, “you can feel…”, or “there is something… about…”. But none of these translations, taken on its own, fully captures the meaning of the construction.

The construction does not necessarily indicate a vague or weak feeling: what is perceived may be difficult to define precisely or, on the contrary, extremely obvious and intense. Expressions such as 目を見張るものがある, literally “there is something that makes you open your eyes wide,” can in fact convey a very strong evaluation.

The distinctive feature of ～ものがある therefore lies not simply in the intensity of the evaluation, but in the way that evaluation is presented. Instead of stating directly that “X is like this,” the speaker represents a certain property, impression, or force as something that exists in X and can be perceived through experience, observation, or their own reaction to it.

It is from this interaction between the value of もの and the existential meaning of ある that the characteristic nuance of the construction arises: not a simple description, but the recognition of the presence of “something” — whether obvious or difficult to define precisely — that gives a person, behavior, situation, or phenomenon a particular quality.

In this article, we will examine in detail how ～ものがある works, what role もの plays in the construction, and why ある helps present a quality as something present and perceptible.

We will analyze its grammatical structure, the forms that can precede ものがある, its main semantic nuances, and the contexts in which it is used, while also focusing on how it differs from a direct statement with a verb or adjective and on how this construction relates to other uses of もの in Japanese grammar.

～ものがある (mono ga aru): Meaning, Nuance, and How It Works

To understand precisely what ～ものがある expresses, it is useful not to treat it immediately as an indivisible grammatical block. The construction still retains a fairly transparent structure:

[verb / adjective + もの] + が + ある

What precedes もの modifies it and specifies its nature; the particle が introduces もの as the entity whose existence is being asserted, while ある retains in the background its fundamental meaning of “to exist,” “to be present.”

From this perspective, even before taking on the grammatical value that concerns us here, Xものがある can conceptually be read as “there is something that is X” or “there is something with the characteristic X.”

This point is important because it allows us to explain the meaning of the construction without relying on a conventional translation that simply has to be memorized.

A study specifically devoted to 「ものがある」 notes that もの, although highly grammaticalized here, retains part of the semantic concreteness associated with 物 and 者; when the construction combines with emotional or evaluative expressions, the basic existential meaning can develop into the sense of 「特別な何かがある」, that is, “there is something special.”

It is precisely this development that explains sentences such as:

彼の演奏には、人を引きつけるものがある。

There is something about his performance that draws people in.

The sentence does not present 人を引きつける, “to draw people in,” simply as a predicate attributed to the performance. That ability is instead encapsulated in もの and treated as something that is present in the performance itself. The speaker listens, forms a certain impression, and expresses that impression as a property whose presence can be recognized.

The role of もの is therefore crucial.

In Japanese, もの is not simply equivalent to the English word “thing.”

The Japan Foundation highlights an important semantic distinction between もの and こと: whereas こと tends toward the abstract representation of facts, events, experiences, thoughts, or judgments, もの more strongly preserves a connection with what is conceived as something concrete or at least perceptible.

This characteristic is traced back precisely to the origin of もの as 物 or 者, that is, something that can be conceived of as an entity.

Of course, in ～ものがある there need not be any material “object.” The concreteness of もの now operates at a conceptual level: it makes it possible to objectify a characteristic, impression, or effect, turning it into something whose presence can then be asserted.

We can represent the process as follows:

a property or effect → something possessing that property → presence of that “something”

For example:

その説明には納得できないものがある。

There is something about that explanation that I cannot accept.

The speaker could express the same judgment more directly:

その説明には納得できない。

I cannot accept that explanation.

But the information is structured differently. In the second sentence, the utterance centers directly on the speaker’s reaction: “I cannot accept it.”

With 納得できないものがある, by contrast, that reaction is transformed into something that the explanation possesses, contains, or elicits. It is as though the personal judgment were projected onto the referent and recognized within it.

Here we can see one of the most interesting characteristics of ～ものがある: the construction is often deeply subjective in content, because it communicates what the speaker feels, perceives, or evaluates, while at the same time presenting that evaluation through a formally existential structure.

Teaching descriptions therefore paraphrase it with expressions such as 「～という感じがする」, “it feels as though…,” and note that it frequently occurs with words relating to emotions and evaluations.

This does not mean, however, that ～ものがある is simply used to soften a statement or make it uncertain.

Consider:

その男の証言には、どこか不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about that man’s testimony.

Here the construction does indeed lend itself to expressing an impression that is difficult to pin down precisely. The speaker senses an anomaly, but does not necessarily identify one specific element that they can point to as the cause of the impression.

The presence of どこか, “somehow / in some respect,” further reinforces this reading. Examples of this kind explain why ～ものがある is sometimes described as a way of expressing something that one “feels” even without being able to define it completely.

But indeterminacy is not the fundamental meaning of the construction.

～ものがある can also appear when the judgment is perfectly clear and very strong:

彼の最近の成長には、目を見張るものがある。

His recent growth has been truly remarkable.

目を見張る literally means “to open one’s eyes wide” and thus expresses anything but a weak or uncertain perception.

Indeed, 目を見張るものがある is a recurring combination used to indicate something remarkable, surprising, or particularly worthy of attention. Descriptions of the construction include examples ranging from 不自然なものがある and 辛いものがある to 驚くべきものがある and 目を見張るものがある: the intensity can therefore vary considerably.

This leads to a fundamental distinction: ～ものがある does not describe how intensely the speaker perceives something, but above all how they choose to represent that perception.

It may refer to an impression that is difficult to pin down:

彼の態度には、どこか不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about his attitude.

or to a clearly recognizable quality:

この作家の文章には、読者を引き込むものがある。

There is something about this author’s prose that draws the reader in.

or to a very definite emotional reaction:

長年住んだ家を離れるのは、やはり寂しいものがある。

Leaving the house one has lived in for so many years still brings a certain sadness.

In all three cases, the common mechanism is neither vagueness nor necessarily the strength of the emotion. It is the fact that a property or reaction is conceived through もの as something present, and its existence is then asserted through ある.

This also explains why apparently different English translations may correspond to the same construction:

• “there is something… about…”
• “there is something… in…”
• “you can feel…”
• “it gives a certain impression of…”
• “it has a certain something…”
• “it has something of…”
• “there is something that…”

None of these on its own represents the universal meaning of ～ものがある. The choice depends on the type of element preceding もの and on the referent being evaluated.

A translation such as “it has a certain something…” may work very well with 不自然なものがある, but would be unsuitable for 目を見張るものがある or 人を感動させるものがある. It is therefore more useful to understand the semantic mechanism of the construction than to associate ～ものがある with one fixed English formula.

Another important element is the frequent presence of ～には:

彼の作品には独特なものがある。

There is something distinctive about his work.

この映画には考えさせられるものがある。

This film gives you something to think about.

The combination is not accidental. に identifies the referent as the domain in which that property is recognized, while は makes it the topic or brings it into focus: “as for X, there is something in X that…”.

Many examples of the construction use precisely this configuration because it fits perfectly with its existential semantics.

However, ～には is not required. When what is being evaluated is an entire event or situation, it is very common for the topic to be expressed through a clause nominalized with のは:

子供が独立して家を出ていくのは、親として寂しいものがある。

As a parent, watching a child become independent and leave home brings a certain sadness.

Here we are not looking for a property “inside” a specific object. It is the entire situation — the fact that the child leaves home — that produces an emotional reaction, which the speaker presents through 寂しいものがある. This type of use is also well attested in teaching descriptions, alongside examples with 辛いものがある, 残念なものがある, and other emotional expressions.

We can therefore distinguish at least two broad semantic directions, without treating them as two grammatically separate constructions.

In one group, something possesses or displays a particular quality:

彼の話し方には人を安心させるものがある。

There is something about the way he speaks that puts people at ease.

In a second group, a situation elicits a particular evaluation or emotional reaction in the speaker:

ここまで来て諦めなければならないのは、残念なものがある。

Having to give up after coming this far leaves a real sense of regret.

The distinction is useful because it reveals two sides of the same principle. In the first case, もの makes a quality attributed to the referent “present”; in the second, it gives substance to the reaction produced by the referent or situation.

It is therefore no surprise that the study devoted to the construction identifies precisely existence and the derivation of an emotional value among the core elements needed to describe how it works.

This grammatical use must also be distinguished from the ordinary lexical use of ものがある.

箱の中に何かものがある。

There is something in the box.

Here もの simply denotes an entity and ある asserts its existence. We are not yet dealing with the evaluative construction analyzed in this article.

In ～ものがある, by contrast, the crucial point is that もの receives a modifier that determines its quality and that the whole phrase is interpreted, in context, not as a concrete object to be identified but as a property, effect, or impression recognized in the referent.

The general definition of a “formal noun” itself points precisely to the loss or weakening of autonomous lexical meaning and the need to receive attributive modification.

This also explains why it is not entirely accurate to interpret もの as though it were simply an indefinite pronoun equivalent to “something.” English “something” is often a natural translation, but grammatically もの is doing something deeper: it transforms what precedes it into a property that can be conceived as an entity, thereby allowing ある to present that property’s presence.

The difference may be subtle, but it is essential to understanding the nature of the construction.

彼の文章は独特だ。

His style is distinctive.

彼の文章には独特なものがある。

There is something distinctive about his style.

The first sentence assigns a property directly: X is distinctive.

The second establishes a different relationship: something distinctive can be recognized in X.

The descriptive content may be similar, but the perspective changes. With ～ものがある, the speaker does not merely classify the referent through a predicate; they present the property as something that emerges from observing or experiencing the referent itself.

It is precisely this combination of subjective perception and a quasi-objectified presentation of the quality that gives ～ものがある much of its characteristic nuance. The fact that もの, compared with こと, maintains a stronger connection with what is conceived as perceptible provides a particularly coherent semantic basis for this development.

For this reason, defining ～ものがある simply as “it seems…”, “it feels…”, or “there is something… about…” is useful only as a first approximation. The construction performs a more precise operation: it takes a quality, effect, or reaction; gives it conceptual substance through もの; uses がある to present it as being present; and in this way transforms a direct judgment into something that the speaker recognizes in the referent or situation.

It is from this mechanism, rather than from a generic meaning of vagueness or intensification, that the many nuances of ～ものがある derive.

Note: What we have seen above about the deeper meaning and value of もの does not apply only to ～ものがある. The ability of もの to preserve, even in its grammatical uses, part of its original value underlies many other Japanese constructions.

For a broader overview, the site includes a guide devoted to all the grammatical uses of もの in Japanese, which brings together and relates the main structures derived from this word.

Grammatical Description and Formation Rules

From a grammatical point of view, ～ものがある has a fairly transparent structure. Its core consists of the formal noun もの, preceded by an element that modifies it, followed by the particle が and the existential verb ある:

[element modifying もの] + もの + が + ある

This structure is important because もの, although it has lost much of the concrete lexical meaning of “thing” or “object” in this construction, continues syntactically to behave like a noun.

What precedes もの must therefore be in a form capable of modifying a noun, that is, in an attributive form. The study specifically devoted to the construction 「ものがある」 in fact emphasizes that もの does not function independently, but should be regarded as a head noun that receives modification.

In its most typical form, ～ものがある is built with verbs, i-adjectives, and na-adjectives. Grammar descriptions for N2-level learners consistently list these three possibilities; with verbs, the dictionary form and the negative ～ない form are especially common, while na-adjectives require な before もの.

With verbs, the most characteristic form is therefore the non-past form:

彼の話には、人を引きつけるものがある。

There is something about the way he speaks that draws people in.

The sequence 人を引きつける is an ordinary relative clause modifying もの. Literally, before considering the broader grammatical function described above, we therefore have something like “a thing that draws people in + exists.”

It is precisely from this ordinary syntactic structure that the evaluative reading can develop: “there is something about the way he speaks that draws people in.”

The verb preceding もの does not, however, have to be simple. It can be accompanied by complements, adverbs, particles, and other elements, forming a relative clause that may be quite complex:

この作家の文章には、読む人を物語の世界へ強く引き込むものがある。

There is something in this author’s prose that powerfully draws the reader into the world of the story.

In this case, it is not only 引き込む that modifies もの, but the entire sequence 読む人を物語の世界へ強く引き込む. We should therefore not imagine ～ものがある as a suffix that is simply “attached” to a verb: もの is the noun modified by the entire clause that precedes it.

Verb forms expressing a reaction produced in the person observing or experiencing something are also very common, such as:

心を打つものがある “there is something that touches the heart”

考えさせられるものがある “there is something that makes you think”

人を感動させるものがある “there is something that moves people”

納得できないものがある “there is something that is unconvincing / that one cannot accept”

This range shows that more complex verb forms can readily appear before もの: causatives such as 感動させる, causative-passive forms such as 考えさせられる, potential forms such as 納得できる, and their respective negative forms.

From the standpoint of the construction, what matters is that the entire verb form can function attributively before もの. Teaching examples explicitly attest constructions such as 人を感動させるものがある and negative forms in ～ない.

The negative verb form is especially productive:

彼の説明には、どうしても納得できないものがある。

There is something about his explanation that I simply cannot accept.

Here ない does not negate ある. In other words, it does not mean “there is not something that I can accept.” The negation instead belongs to the clause modifying もの:

[納得できない] + もの + がある

“there is something [that I cannot accept].”

The distinction is important because it shows once again that ～ものがある should not be analyzed as a completely fossilized sequence. Within it, the ordinary syntax of Japanese noun modification remains perfectly visible.

With i-adjectives, the connection is equally direct. The adjective retains its ～い form and modifies もの exactly as it would any other noun:

一人でこの仕事を続けるのは、厳しいものがある。

Continuing this job alone presents some serious difficulties.

The structure is:

厳しい + もの + がある

Likewise:

寂しいものがある 辛いものがある 素晴らしいものがある 目覚ましいものがある

These are all regular formations. Teaching sources list i-adjectives precisely in their normal attributive ～い form.

彼女のここ数年の成長には、目覚ましいものがある。

Her growth over the past few years has been truly remarkable.

It is important not to confuse this structure with ～ものだ. Although both contain もの, what follows is syntactically different: in ～ものがある, もの is the nominal core of an existential structure marked by が, whereas ～ものだ belongs to a different set of constructions in which ものだ can take on modal, generalizing, emotional, or recollective values.

With na-adjectives, by contrast, there is a formal difference that deserves particular attention. Since もの is a noun, a na-adjective must take its normal attributive form in ～な:

不自然だ → 不自然なものがある

複雑だ → 複雑なものがある

見事だ → 見事なものがある

You therefore do not say:

× 不自然だものがある

or:

× 不自然ものがある

but:

彼の証言には、どこか不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about his testimony.

The presence of な is not a peculiarity of ～ものがある itself: it simply follows from the fact that the na-adjective is modifying the noun もの. Grammatical descriptions of the construction explicitly give ナAな + ものがある.

This detail makes it especially clear that the sequence is not:

不自然 + [ものがある]

as though ～ものがある were a grammatical particle attached directly to the adjective, but rather:

[不自然なもの] + がある

that is, structurally, “there exists something unnatural.”

It is on this nominal structure that the evaluative meaning of the construction is then built.

What About Nouns?

Here an important distinction is needed.

In teaching descriptions of the evaluative construction ～ものがある, the categories normally given are verb, i-adjective, and na-adjective; nouns are not usually listed as a fourth productive category on the same level as the others.

From the perspective of general Japanese grammar, of course, one noun can modify another through の:

N + の + もの

but this does not automatically mean that every sequence of the form:

N + の + ものがある

represents the evaluative ～ものがある analyzed in this article.

For example:

箱の中には木製のものがある。

There are some wooden ones in the box.

木製のもの simply means “wooden things / the wooden ones”: here もの retains a normal nominal value, and ある simply asserts the existence of those objects. We are not dealing with the evaluative value found in 心を打つものがある or 不自然なものがある.

For this reason, it is more accurate not to teach the rule as a generic:

V / A / N + ものがある

but to distinguish the grammatical construction proper from formally similar sequences in which もの is simply a substitute or generic noun.

Tense: ～ものがある and ～ものがあった

Another important detail concerns grammatical tense.

The form presented in textbooks is normally ～ものがある, but the final verb ある can naturally be inflected:

ものがある “there is / it has…”

ものがあります polite form

ものがあった “there was / it had…”

ものがありました polite past form

The use of ～ものがあった is well attested, for example in constructions such as 考えさせられるものがあった or 目を見張るものがあった. Real-world examples and teaching materials also show that the past is normally expressed by changing ある → あった, while the verb modifying もの can remain in the non-past form.

昨日見た映画には、考えさせられるものがあった。

There was something thought-provoking about the film I saw yesterday.

It is significant that one says:

考えさせられるものがあった

and there is no need to put the modifying verb into the past tense.

This is because 考えさせられる (the causative-passive in its emotional use) describes the property attributed to もの — “something that makes you think” — while あった places the recognition or presence of that property in the past.

The structural difference can be represented as follows:

[考えさせられるもの] が あった

“there was [something that made you think].”

The same principle appears in:

当時の彼の成長ぶりには、目を見張るものがあった。

His growth at the time was truly impressive.

Here too, the property remains 目を見張る, while あった places the evaluation within a past-time frame.

This does not mean that a verb form in ～た is syntactically impossible before もの: もの remains a noun and, like any noun, can in general be modified by a past-tense clause. But this is not the canonical formation normally given for the evaluative ～ものがある construction.

Teaching descriptions in fact present V辞書形 and Vない形; when the aim is simply to shift the evaluation expressed by the construction into the past, it is primarily ある that changes to あった.

This distinction is also useful for avoiding confusion between the grammatical construction and an ordinary lexical もの:

昨日彼が買ったものがある。

There is something he bought yesterday.

Here 買った modifies もの, but もの concretely means “thing / what he bought,” and the entire sentence simply says that there is something he bought. This is not ～ものがある in the evaluative sense.

The ～には～ものがある Structure

The configuration that is probably most representative of the construction is:

A には B ものがある

彼の演技には、人の心を打つものがある。

There is something about his acting that touches people’s hearts.

この考え方には、どうしても納得できないものがある。

There is something about this way of thinking that I simply cannot accept.

In this structure, A represents the referent, domain, or object in which the speaker recognizes a certain property; B describes the nature of that property by modifying もの.

We can therefore schematize it as:

A には [B もの] がある

Teaching grammars also explicitly describe the structure as 「AにはBものがある」, where B represents a quality or property recognized within A.

The particle に here retains a function closely related to its ordinary locative or existential use:

部屋には机がある。

There is a desk in the room.

彼の演技には人を引きつけるものがある。

There is something about his acting that draws people in.

Naturally, in the second example the “location” is not a physical space. 彼の演技 is interpreted as a conceptual domain in which a certain property is present.

It is precisely this continuity with the ordinary existential structure that makes ～には particularly natural with ～ものがある.

は, in turn, makes that domain the topic or brings it into focus: “as for X, in X…”. The result is a configuration particularly well suited to evaluating a person, a work, a behavior, a speech, a development, or any other referent in which the speaker recognizes a particular characteristic.

The ～のは～ものがある Structure

When what is being evaluated is not a noun but an entire action, situation, or circumstance, another configuration occurs very frequently:

[clause + の] は + Bものがある

毎日二時間かけて通勤するのは、つらいものがある。

Spending two hours commuting every day is genuinely exhausting.

長年住んだ町を離れるのは、寂しいものがある。

Leaving the town one has lived in for many years brings a certain sadness.

Here の nominalizes the entire preceding clause, making it the topic of the evaluation:

[長年住んだ町を離れる] → [長年住んだ町を離れるの] は

“as for leaving the town one has lived in for many years…”

That topic is then associated with the evaluation:

寂しいものがある

Descriptions of the construction explicitly recognize both the pattern AにはBものがある and AのはBものがある.

The two configurations therefore allow us to distinguish two very common syntactic patterns:

Nには + Bものがある → a quality is recognized in a referent

Vのは + Bものがある → a reaction to or evaluation of a situation is expressed

These are not two completely separate grammatical meanings. In both cases, the core remains the same: a certain property, feeling, or reaction is built through B + もの and presented as something whose presence is recognized.

What Is Actually Fixed in the Construction

In light of all this, it is useful to avoid thinking of ～ものがある as an entirely frozen sequence.

Its internal structure remains relatively transparent:

[modifier] + もの + が + ある

and several elements can vary.

The modifier can be a verb, including a complex or negative form:

心を打つものがある 考えさせられるものがある 納得できないものがある

or an adjective:

寂しいものがある 目覚ましいものがある 不自然なものがある

ある can also be inflected for tense and register:

ものがある ものがあります ものがあった ものがありました

and the referent being evaluated can be introduced through different structures, among which the following are especially characteristic:

Nには～ものがある

and

Vのは～ものがある.

What makes the construction recognizable, then, is not simply an invariant sequence of forms, but the syntactic and semantic relationship that arises among its components:

something is described → that description modifies もの → が presents もの as an existing element → ある asserts its presence.

It is precisely this ordinary grammatical structure, progressively specialized into an evaluative use, that allows ～ものがある to express the idea that in a person, behavior, work, or situation there is a certain quality that the speaker recognizes and perceives as present.

Context and Register

～ものがある belongs to a relatively elevated and reflective register. It is not archaic, literary, or restricted to extremely formal contexts, but neither is it one of the most spontaneous forms used in everyday conversation to express a simple impression.

Japanese teaching descriptions and materials aimed at advanced learners in fact describe it as 硬い, “stiff / formal,” or 書き言葉的, “characteristic of written language.”

This feature is easy to understand if we once again consider how the construction works. ～ものがある does not merely express an immediate reaction by the speaker; it tends to take a particular impression, quality, or evaluation and formulate it as something recognized in the referent.

The content may be deeply subjective, but the way it is presented is more detached and analytical: instead of saying directly “it is impressive,” “I am not convinced,” or “it is sad,” the speaker presents that quality as something that “is there,” something that can be observed or identified.

It is precisely this combination of evaluation and existence that explains why the construction is especially well suited to considered judgments, commentary, analysis, and observation.

The study specifically devoted to 「ものがある」 likewise relates the existential structure to the development of emotional and evaluative meanings, ultimately reaching the reading “there is something special.”

Compare, for example:

最近の彼は本当にすごい。

He has been really amazing lately.

最近の彼の成長には、目を見張るものがある。

His recent growth has been truly remarkable.

Both sentences can express admiration, but they frame that judgment differently. 本当にすごい directly communicates the speaker’s reaction and is perfectly natural even in informal conversation.

目を見張るものがある, by contrast, transforms that reaction into a more structured evaluation of the growth being observed: it does not merely communicate “I am impressed,” but presents the growth itself as possessing something worthy of amazement.

It is therefore no surprise that 目を見張るものがある occurs naturally in journalistic and evaluative prose; in an article, for example, it might be used to assess a footballer’s finishing ability: 決定力の高さには目を見張るものがある.

For precisely this reason, ～ものがある is particularly well suited to reviews, critical commentary, essays, articles, analyses, argumentative texts, and descriptions in which the speaker or writer expresses an evaluation of something they have observed.

Artistic works, performances, behaviors, speeches, changes, results, social situations, and even problems or difficulties are all highly natural referents for the construction. Sources in fact give examples involving acting, writing, technology, personal growth, testimony, earthquake damage, and emotionally difficult situations.

この作品には、見る人の心に強く訴えかけるものがある。

There is something about this work that speaks powerfully to those who see it.

彼の提案には、十分に検討する価値があると思わせるものがある。

There is something in his proposal that makes you think it deserves serious consideration.

今回の結果には、いろいろと考えさせられるものがある。

These results give us a great deal to think about.

These are sentences that fit naturally into discourse in which the speaker is not simply reacting, but formulating an evaluation on the basis of what they have seen, heard, or experienced.

A Written-Language Construction, but Not Exclusively Written

Describing ～ものがある as a “written-language” construction does, however, require some qualification.

The tendency toward written language is real, but it is not a grammatical restriction. ～ものがある can also be used in speech, especially when the conversation takes on a reflective, argumentative, professional, or relatively formal tone.

This is also demonstrated by attested examples from actual public speech: in the minutes of Japan’s National Diet, for example, we find 進捗は本当に目を見張るものがあると思います, “I think the progress is truly remarkable,” spoken during a parliamentary session in 2023.

Another session contains 非常に難しいものがあると思います, used orally to assess the difficulties associated with an organizational situation.

This evidence helps define the register more precisely:

～ものがある is not “written rather than spoken”; it is above all a form suited to evaluative and reflective discourse, and for that very reason it is more frequent in writing and formal speech than in spontaneous everyday conversation.

It can therefore occur quite naturally even in an ordinary conversation between adults, provided the context justifies this type of formulation.

この仕事、一人で全部やるのは正直厳しいものがあるね。

To be honest, doing all of this work alone is pretty tough.

A sentence like this is possible in speech. The presence of 正直 and the sentence-final particle ね clearly places it in conversational interaction. What remains is a more considered nuance than in a simple:

これ、一人でやるのはきついね。

Doing this alone is tough, isn’t it?

The second sentence belongs much more directly to everyday conversation; the first instead presents the difficulty almost as a property of the situation that the speaker recognizes and evaluates.

It is therefore especially in off-the-cuff comments and immediate reactions that ～ものがある can sound overly elaborate.

When tasting a dish, for example, it would be much more spontaneous to say:

これ、すごくおいしい！

This is delicious!

rather than deliberately constructing an evaluation with ～ものがある. Likewise, immediately after a film ends, in an informal conversation with a friend:

あの映画、すごくよかった。

That movie was really good.

is more immediate than:

あの映画には、人の心を引きつけるものがある。

There is something about that movie that draws people in.

The latter sentence is not wrong. It simply changes the speaker’s stance: it is no longer simply an immediate reaction, but an observation about the film and the quality the speaker recognizes in it.

It is precisely this shift from reaction to evaluation that makes ～ものがある particularly natural in reviews and reasoned commentary. Descriptions presenting it as a form used for a quality or impression “that one definitely senses,” often with an evaluative component, are consistent with this behavior.

It Does Not Express Only Positive Evaluations

The evaluative tone of ～ものがある does not imply approval or praise at all.

The construction is fully compatible with positive, negative, and ambivalent evaluations. The verb or adjective preceding もの determines the direction of the evaluation.

Positive:

彼女の演技には、人を引き込むものがある。

There is something compelling about her acting.

この会社の技術力には、目を見張るものがある。

This company’s technological capabilities are truly remarkable.

Negative:

彼の態度には、どうしても納得できないものがある。

There is something about his attitude that I simply cannot accept.

今回の対応には、不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about the way this situation was handled.

Emotional:

長年続けてきた店を閉めるのは、やはり寂しいものがある。

Closing a shop one has run for many years still brings a certain sadness.

Japanese grammar collections attest to precisely this breadth of use: 人の心を動かすものがある and 目を見張るものがある express favorable evaluations, while 目に余るものがある, 辛いものがある, ひどいものがある, and 不自然なものがある can express disapproval, difficulty, discomfort, or a negative perception.

This makes ～ものがある particularly useful when the speaker wants to evaluate something without necessarily defining the referent categorically.

Saying:

彼の説明は不自然だ。

His explanation is unnatural.

attributes the property 不自然 directly to the explanation.

Saying:

彼の説明には、不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about his explanation.

instead presents the unnaturalness as a characteristic identified within it.

This difference can produce a less categorical effect, but it should not be turned into a rule of “softening.” As we have seen, ～ものがある can also accompany very strong judgments. More precisely, the construction shifts the judgment from direct predication to the recognition of a quality.

Its apparent greater detachment arises from this change in perspective, not from a grammatical meaning equivalent to “perhaps,” “a little,” or “partly.”

In fact, the perceived quality may be either weak or very strong.

Subjective in Judgment, More Detached in Form

One aspect that can cause confusion concerns the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity.

Some descriptions define ～ものがある as an objective expression, in the sense that the quality is presented as something belonging to the referent: AにはBものがある, “B is present in A.” Others instead emphasize that it represents the speaker’s impression or evaluation. The two descriptions are not necessarily incompatible.

The judgment can be subjective:

この小説には、なぜか心を引かれるものがある。

There is something about this novel that, for some reason, draws me in.

It is the speaker who experiences that reaction.

But linguistically, the sentence is not formulated as:

“I feel X”

but as:

“there is X in this novel.”

It is therefore more accurate to speak of a subjective evaluation presented in a relatively objectified form. This feature contributes directly to the register of the construction: the speaker seems to take a step back from their immediate reaction and present it as the result of observing a quality present in the referent.

The same mechanism explains why ～ものがある is particularly effective in argumentation.

この案には評価できる点も多いが、安全性については不安を感じさせるものがある。

This proposal has many points in its favor, but there is something about its safety that gives cause for concern.

A formulation of this kind allows the speaker to incorporate their evaluation into an argument without necessarily turning it into a blunt, absolute statement.

Rather than simply saying 安全性が不安だ, it presents the concern as something that emerges from examining the proposal.

～ものがある in Formal Speech

In formal speech, ～ものがある is also frequently followed by と思う / と思います:

～ものがあると思う ～ものがあると思います

この制度を今のまま続けるのは、難しいものがあると思います。

I believe that continuing this system as it is presents considerable difficulties.

ここ数年の技術の進歩には、目を見張るものがあると思います。

I think the technological progress of the past few years has been truly remarkable.

This configuration is also attested in contemporary institutional speech. Japanese parliamentary records contain both 目を見張るものがあると思います and 難しいものがあると思います.

The combination is interesting because it creates two levels of perspective. With ～ものがある, the speaker already presents a property as something recognizable in the referent; by adding と思う, they then explicitly mark the entire evaluation as their own:

[XにはBものがある] + と思う

“I think there is something B in X.”

This type of formulation is very well suited to meetings, professional discussions, presentations, debates, and other contexts in which the speaker needs to express a personal judgment in a structured and nuanced way.

Plain and Polite Forms

The construction does not in itself carry an honorific or polite value. The level of politeness normally depends on the form taken by ある:

～ものがある plain form

～ものがあります polite form

～ものがあった plain past form

～ものがありました polite past form

For example:

彼の作品には、見る者を圧倒するものがある。

There is something overwhelming about his work.

can fit naturally into written prose or plain-form speech, while:

彼の作品には、見る者を圧倒するものがあります。

There is something overwhelming about his work.

expresses the same evaluation in polite speech.

It is important, however, to distinguish politeness from register. Changing ある to あります makes the sentence polite, but that is not what makes ～ものがある a relatively elevated construction: this characteristic already belongs to the very way in which the evaluation is formulated.

What Contexts Favor ～ものがある?

We can therefore identify several contexts in which the construction is particularly natural.

Evaluating abilities, results, or changes:

若手選手たちのここ一年の成長には、目覚ましいものがある。

The young players’ growth over the past year has been remarkable.

Commenting on works, speeches, or performances:

彼女の文章には、最後まで読ませるものがある。

There is something about her writing that keeps you reading to the end.

Critically evaluating behavior or situations:

会社側の今回の対応には、納得できないものがある。

There is something about the way the company handled this situation that I cannot accept.

Reflection prompted by an event:

この調査結果には、考えさせられるものがある。

These survey results give us a great deal to think about.

Emotional reactions to a situation:

長年一緒に働いた仲間が辞めるのは、やはり寂しいものがある。

Seeing a colleague you have worked with for many years leave still brings a certain sadness.

This variety confirms that it is not the type of emotion that determines the use of ～ものがある. What the different contexts have in common is the desire to formulate an evaluation, impression, or reaction as a quality that emerges from the object or situation under consideration.

Descriptions of the construction in fact emphasize both properties recognized in a referent and the frequent association with emotional and evaluative expressions.

In terms of register, ～ものがある therefore has a fairly specific profile: more elaborate than a simple colloquial reaction, yet fully alive in contemporary Japanese; particularly natural in writing, but also available in speech when the discourse becomes reflective, evaluative, or formal.

It is not, then, a construction that speakers use because they necessarily want to “sound formal.” Its relative formality is, to a large extent, a consequence of its function: instead of expressing a direct reaction, it frames the speaker’s observation and evaluation as a recognizable quality in the referent.

It is precisely this perspectival distance that makes ～ものがある so well suited to criticism, commentary, argumentation, and reflection.

～ものがある and Similar Structures: Differences in Meaning and Nuance

The meaning of ～ものがある partly overlaps with that of several Japanese expressions used to talk about characteristics, impressions, sensations, or tendencies.

For this reason, depending on the context, the same situation can sometimes be described with ～ものがある, ～ところがある, ～気がする, ～感じがする, or other related constructions.

They are not synonyms, however. The fundamental difference lies in what the speaker chooses to bring to the linguistic foreground: a quality recognized in the referent, one particular aspect of it, a sensation felt by the speaker, or a recurring tendency.

～ものがある and ～ところがある

～ところがある is probably one of the constructions closest to ～ものがある because it too makes it possible to avoid an absolute predication.

The Japan Foundation explicitly contrasts:

頑固だ “he is stubborn”

with:

頑固なところがある “he has a stubborn side.”

In the second case, the characteristic is not presented as a definition of the person as a whole, but as one of their sides or aspects. The construction is in fact particularly natural when talking about personality and can highlight an unexpected or negative side.

彼には少し頑固なところがある。

He has a slightly stubborn side.

～ものがある performs a different operation:

彼の話し方には、人を遠ざけるものがある。

There is something about the way he speaks that pushes people away.

With ～ところがある, ところ delimits a part or aspect of the referent: “this is one side of their personality.”

With ～ものがある, by contrast, the focus is not a “part” of the referent, but something the speaker perceives within it and to which they attribute a particular quality or effect.

Research specifically on the ～ものがある construction traces one of its semantic developments precisely to the perception that there is 「特別な何か」, “something special,” in the referent being evaluated.

In summary:

～ところがある → X also has this side/aspect

～ものがある → something in X is recognized as producing or displaying this quality

～ものがある and ～面がある

Also very close to ～ところがある is ～面がある, where 面 more clearly retains its lexical meaning of “aspect,” “side,” or “dimension.”

この制度には便利な面もある。

This system also has some useful features.

この制度には評価できるものがある。

There is something in this system that deserves credit.

With 面, the speaker isolates one dimension of the referent and describes it. The word is indeed used in this sense in institutional texts and Japan Foundation materials as well, for example when discussing activities with aspects that require a certain degree of effort.

～ものがある, by contrast, is more naturally evaluative: it does not necessarily divide the referent into “aspects,” but communicates the quality the speaker perceives in it.

Thus:

～面がある → this aspect/dimension of X exists

～ものがある → I sense or recognize something of this nature in X

～面がある is also, first and foremost, an ordinary combination built with the lexical noun 面; it is not, in the same sense, a grammaticalized pattern equivalent to ～ものがある.

～ものがある and ～気がする／～感じがする

The similarity with ～気がする and ～感じがする is even greater at the level of translation. It is no coincidence that ～ものがある is often explained pedagogically through formulas such as “you get the sense that…” or “you can feel something… about…”.

The difference, however, concerns where that perception is linguistically located.

彼の説明は、どこか不自然な気がする。

I have the feeling that there is something unnatural about his explanation.

Here the sentence directly foregrounds the speaker’s feeling: 気がする means that the subject intuitively senses something.

彼の説明には、どこか不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about his explanation.

The perception remains subjective, but it is formulated differently: the unnaturalness is transformed through もの into something recognized in the explanation itself.

The Japan Foundation notes that expressions such as ～ように感じる and ～ような気／感じがする can be associated with a vaguer feeling than ～ように思う.

This makes 気がする and 感じがする particularly well suited to foregrounding the intuitive or impressionistic nature of the perception.

We can therefore schematize the contrast as follows:

～気がする／～感じがする → “I have this impression”

～ものがある → “I recognize this quality as being present in X”

The difference becomes especially clear when the evaluation is strong. ～ものがある does not necessarily mean that the speaker is uncertain: it can also present a quality perceived with complete clarity. What changes, then, is not necessarily the degree of certainty, but the perspective from which the judgment is formulated.

～ものがある and ～ものを感じる

A particularly revealing comparison is with ～ものを感じる.

The two expressions can be very close semantically because both use もの to give substance to a quality that is difficult to reduce to one concrete element. In actual usage, we find formulations such as:

この作品からは、一貫した美学のようなものを感じる。

You can sense something like a consistent aesthetic in this work.

The Japan Foundation likewise presents real examples of ～ものを感じる with abstract qualities such as 使命感 or 美学.

The difference from ～ものがある becomes clear when we look at the particles:

ものがある → もの is what is asserted to be present

ものを感じる → もの is what someone perceives

Compare:

この作品には、どこか懐かしいものがある。

There is something nostalgic about this work.

この作品から、どこか懐かしいものを感じる。

I sense something nostalgic in this work.

In the second case, 感じる explicitly expresses the subject’s act of perception.

In the first, by contrast, ある shifts the focus to the presence of the quality in the referent.

This is therefore one of the comparisons that most clearly reveals what is distinctive about ～ものがある: a perception that inevitably originates with the speaker is linguistically formulated not as “I feel something,” but as “something is present there.”

～ものがある and ～きらいがある

More distant semantically, but easy to confuse because of the formal similarity, is ～きらいがある.

彼は他人の意見を軽視するきらいがある。

He has a tendency to dismiss other people’s opinions.

～きらいがある means “to have a tendency to…” and is normally used to indicate a tendency or characteristic viewed negatively. It is an elevated construction strongly associated with written language and is not normally used for simple natural phenomena.

The difference from ～ものがある is substantial:

彼は他人の意見を軽視するきらいがある。

He has a tendency to dismiss other people’s opinions.

The sentence describes a recurring behavior, a propensity that the speaker recognizes in the subject.

彼の他人に対する態度には、納得できないものがある。

There is something about his attitude toward others that I cannot accept.

Here no habitual tendency is necessarily being asserted. Instead, the speaker expresses an evaluation of a quality perceived in the attitude.

The contrast can therefore be summarized as follows:

～きらいがある → X habitually tends to behave or be a certain way, generally in a negative sense

～ものがある → the speaker recognizes a certain quality, impression, or effect in X

It is significant that ～きらいがある can also appear in actual critical writing to indicate a general tendency, for example when observing that international attention to Japanese cinema tends to focus excessively on a single director.

The various constructions therefore occupy closely related semantic areas, but organize the evaluation from different perspectives.

～ところがある identifies one side or a particular aspect of the referent.

～面がある isolates an aspect or dimension of it.

～気がする／～感じがする foregrounds the speaker’s feeling.

～ものを感じる makes explicit the act of perceiving a particular quality.

～きらいがある describes a tendency, generally negative and recurring.

～ものがある, by contrast, occupies a distinctive position: the perception originates with the speaker, but the perceived quality is transformed through もの into “something” and presented through がある as being present in the referent itself.

It is precisely this combination of subjective perception and an existential representation of the quality that distinguishes ～ものがある from structures that can, depending on the context, produce very similar English translations.

Usage Examples

彼女の歌声には、一度聞くと忘れられないものがある。

この映画のラストには、何度見ても考えさせられるものがある。

彼の説明には、どうしても納得できないものがある。

このデザインには、どこか不自然なものがある。

若手選手たちのここ数年の成長には、目を見張るものがある。

長年暮らした町を離れるのは、やはり寂しいものがある。

この仕事を一人ですべて引き受けるのは、かなり厳しいものがある。

彼の文章には、読者を最後まで引き込むものがある。

彼の客に対する態度には、どうも不誠実なものがある。

昨日の講演には、これからの教育について深く考えさせられるものがあった。

Conclusion

～ものがある is a construction that becomes much easier to understand once you stop looking for a fixed English translation and instead look at the way the evaluation itself is constructed in Japanese.

Formulas such as “there is something… about…”, “you can feel…”, “it has a certain something…”, “it has something of…”, or “it gives a certain impression” can all be correct translations in particular contexts, but none of them by itself fully captures the meaning of ～ものがある.

The construction derives its value from the interaction of its elements: what precedes もの specifies the quality being described, もの allows that quality to be conceived as “something” with a certain conceptual substance, while がある presents it as being present.

This interpretation is not merely a pedagogically convenient way of explaining the construction. The study specifically devoted to 「ものがある」 emphasizes that もの retains, even as a formal noun, a semantic component associated with the greater concreteness of 物・者 and that, when the construction combines with emotional or evaluative expressions, the ordinary existential meaning can develop precisely into the reading 「特別な何かがある」, “there is something special.”

More generally, the Japan Foundation traces this ability of もの to its concrete origins and to its tendency to represent what is conceived as more perceptible, in contrast to the kind of abstraction typically associated with こと.

For this reason, when faced with:

彼の話には、人を引きつけるものがある。

it is not particularly useful to start with a formula such as “ものがある means ‘to have the impression that…’”.

It is more productive to read the sentence almost literally at first:

人を引きつけるもの “something that draws people in”

and then:

彼の話には［人を引きつけるもの］がある “in the way he speaks, there is [something that draws people in].”

At that point, it becomes clear how the evaluative nuance emerges from the ordinary existential structure: the speaker recognizes a quality capable of producing a particular effect in the way that person speaks.

This approach is especially useful when reading as well. When you encounter ～ものがある, it is best first to ask yourself what is modifying もの. The verb or adjective preceding it almost always contains the key to the evaluation:

目を見張るものがある → something that makes you open your eyes wide → a remarkable, impressive quality

納得できないものがある → something that cannot be accepted → an element that causes disagreement or misgivings

不自然なものがある → something unnatural → a quality perceived as anomalous

寂しいものがある → something sad / something that produces sadness → an emotional reaction to the situation

Japanese grammar descriptions confirm this strong affinity between the construction and expressions of emotion and evaluation, while other sources describe it through configurations such as AにはBものがある, in which B represents a property or characteristic recognized in A.

A second practical point is to avoid automatically interpreting もの as a concrete “thing.”

Compare:

机の上に昨日買ったものがある。

There is something on the desk that I bought yesterday.

彼の考え方には納得できないものがある。

There is something about his way of thinking that I cannot accept.

In the first sentence, もの genuinely stands in for a concrete or at least identifiable referent: “what I bought.” In the second, もの does not refer to any concrete object. What is nominalized through もの is the evaluative quality expressed by 納得できない.

A useful interpretive criterion is therefore to ask:

“Is もの pointing to something I could identify as a concrete entity, or is it giving form to a quality, impression, reaction, or effect?”

In the second case, especially in configurations such as Nには～ものがある or Vのは～ものがある, we are very likely dealing with the grammatical use analyzed in this article. The structure AにはBものがある is in fact explicitly identified in descriptions of the construction as one of its representative patterns.

It is equally important to avoid another automatic assumption: ～ものがある does not necessarily mean “there is something vaguely… about…”.

The paraphrase 「なんとなく～だと感じられる」, often used to introduce the construction to learners, describes some cases well, especially when the speaker senses a characteristic without being able to identify its cause precisely.

彼の説明には、どこか不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about his explanation.

Here a certain degree of indeterminacy is indeed present.

But the same construction can express an extremely strong evaluation:

彼女のここ数年の成長には、目を見張るものがある。

Her growth over the past few years has been truly impressive.

～ものがある is in fact also used to express a strong judgment, not merely a vague perception.

Vagueness should therefore be regarded as a possible contextual effect, not the fundamental grammatical meaning. What remains constant is something else: the quality is not simply predicated of X, but represented as something the speaker recognizes in X.

This is why:

彼の説明は不自然だ。

His explanation is unnatural.

and:

彼の説明には不自然なものがある。

There is something unnatural about his explanation.

are not simply a “strong” and a “weak” version of the same statement.

The first sentence directly classifies the explanation as 不自然.

The second instead presents the unnaturalness as a property that emerges from the explanation and that the speaker recognizes within it.

This difference is also fundamental when actively using ～ものがある. It is not advisable to use it every time English would say “it seems to me,” “I find that” or “it is fairly…”.

If the aim is simply to assign a characteristic directly, an ordinary predicate is often more natural:

この映画は面白い。 “This film is interesting.”

彼は頑固だ。 “He is stubborn.”

この仕事は難しい。 “This job is difficult.”

～ものがある becomes particularly effective when the speaker wants to communicate something slightly different:

“looking at this, I recognize a certain quality in it.”

この映画には、見る人を最後まで引きつけるものがある。

There is something about this film that keeps viewers engaged until the very end.

The film is not simply labeled 面白い. The speaker describes the effect produced on viewers by a quality present in the work.

It is precisely this perspective that explains why ～ものがある works so well in reviews, critical commentary, analysis, evaluations of performance, reflections on behavior and situations, and more generally in contexts where the speaker does not merely want to react, but wants to put into words the impressions or conclusions they have drawn from observing or experiencing something.

The register of the construction is indeed described as relatively 硬い, “formal / elevated,” and the form is particularly compatible with reflective or evaluative discourse.

This does not mean that it is forbidden in conversation. Rather, it means that when choosing between:

すごい！ “Amazing!”

and:

目を見張るものがある。 “There is something truly impressive about it.”

the second formulation normally implies a more reflective communicative stance. The speaker is not merely expressing a reaction; they are turning that reaction into a judgment about the referent.

Another practical point concerns translation. With ～ものがある, it is generally better to translate the meaning of the sentence as a whole rather than preserve “there is something” at all costs.

彼の態度には納得できないものがある。

can be rendered very naturally as:

“There is something about his attitude that I cannot accept.”

But:

最近の彼女の成長には目を見張るものがある。

does not necessarily require:

“There is something in her recent growth that makes your eyes open wide.”

A translation such as:

“Her recent growth has been truly impressive.”

may be much better in English, provided we keep in mind that in the Japanese original the evaluation is constructed through the presence of a quality, not through direct predication.

Similarly:

長年住んだ町を離れるのは寂しいものがある。

should not be forced into an unnatural “there is something sad about leaving…”. Depending on the context, a more natural rendering might be:

“Leaving the town one has lived in for so many years brings a certain sadness.”

Understanding ～ものがある therefore also means learning to separate the grammatical mechanism from the way it is rendered in one’s own language.

Finally, it is useful to place this construction within the broader range of uses of もの. ～ものがある shows particularly clearly why もの cannot simply be treated as a word that arbitrarily loses its original meaning in grammatical constructions.

The Japan Foundation notes that many grammatical uses of もの can still be explained by relating this noun to something conceived as relatively concrete and perceptible.

In ～ものがある, this continuity is almost visible:

a quality is described → もの gives it conceptual form → がある presents it as something present.

This is where the overall nuance of the construction comes from.

Not simply:

“X is like this.”

Nor necessarily:

“perhaps X is like this.”

But rather:

“there is something in X that leads me to recognize this quality.”

It is this perspective that unites apparently very different uses such as 人を引きつけるものがある, 不自然なものがある, 納得できないものがある, 寂しいものがある, and 目を見張るものがある: what changes is the quality perceived, its intensity, and the speaker’s reaction; what remains unchanged is the way that quality is linguistically presented as existing in the referent.

And this is precisely the most important point to keep in mind when encountering or using ～ものがある: do not begin by asking “what does ものがある mean?” but rather “what is the speaker presenting as something that exists in the referent?”

Once that element has been identified, the meaning of the construction tends to become much more transparent.

Selected Bibliography

• Nam, Miyoung (2014), 「ものがある」構文の意味類型, 인문학논총 (The Journal of Humanities), vol. 34, pp. 233–251. Korea Citation Index (KCI)

• 国際交流基金 (The Japan Foundation), 日本語教育通信「文法を楽しく 『もの』（1）」. The Japan Foundation

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