Tuesday 2 August 2016

grammar - Very confused about "には" in indicating relationships



I read a very detailed and useful answer explaining the difference between "に" and "には" but am still confused about a sentence I recently encountered.


私たちには息子が二人います。


I do not understand the function of には in this sentence. I get the general meaning -- that the speaker and their partner have two sons, but beyond that my brain is sort of melting. Please help. :c



Answer



This is a topicalization of the に-marked (a.k.a., dative) subject 私たち. 息子 is a が-marked (a.k.a, nominative) object.


Basically, what you are missing (judging by your comment on @torazaburo's answer) is that に can be used as a subject marker given certain predicates. I talk about this in detail in this answer: What is the difference between "に" and "には"?


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