That’s interesting! So they’re not really interchangeable. Kinda like はは vs おかあさん, except those share the same kanji, whereas “wife” does not.

ありがとうございます。

Great question! “oku-san” is polite and used for someone else’s wife, as in “oku-san wa o-genki desu ka?” (how is your wife?), while “tsuma” is usually used to talk about your own wife, eg. “tsuma wa bengoushi desu” (my wife is a lawyer).

また明日ね。

Quick correction: * Neko wa desu -> It’s a/the cat. -> X Neko desu (you don’t need wa here )

Asoko ni neko ga imasu -> There goes a cat. -> Correct!

Neko wa doko desu ka? -> Where is a/the cat? (in general)
Neko wa doko ni imasu ka? -> Where is the cat? (its specific location)
-> Both correct!

Neko wa teeburu no ue ni imasu ka? -> Is the cat on the table? (its specific location) -> Correct!

Neko wa teeburu no ue ni desu ka? -> X I should have clarified: you can only use “desu” with locations of animate nouns in QUESTIONS. So your sentence “neko wa doko desu ka?” is perfect, but you cannot use desu to describe location in a non-question statement.

Iwakura desu. -> I am Iwakura. -> Correct!

Iwakura wa doko desu ka? -> Where is Iwakura? -> Correct!

To simply ask where I ‘am’ (desu), as opposed to wanting to know at which specific location I am manifesting my physical existence (iru). -> Haha, great explanation and nice use of the word “manifesting”, which I don’t see too often…

Yes, I remember us talking about ‘desu’ vs. ‘imasu’, like in:

Neko wa desu -> It’s a/the cat.
Neko ga imasu -> There is a/the cat.

So as to say:

Asoko ni neko ga imasu -> There goes a cat.

Which is where I got the idea that you need ‘ni’ + ‘iru’ for its specific physical location (when used in combination with asoko, doko, etc):

Neko wa doko desu ka? -> Where is a/the cat? (in general)
Neko wa doko ni imasu ka? -> Where is the cat? (its specific location)

For some reason, using ‘desu’ to ask about its specific whereabouts still feels a bit awkward to me. Like i would be inclined to say:

Neko wa teeburu no ue ni imasu ka? -> Is the cat on the table? (its specific location)

And not:

Neko wa teeburu no ue ni desu ka?

However, we do say this:

Iwakura desu. -> I am Iwakura.

So, it stands to reason that we can then also say:

Iwakura wa doko desu ka? -> Where is Iwakura?

To simply ask where I ‘am’ (desu), as opposed to wanting to know at which specific location I am manifesting my physical existence (iru). But I guess since ‘doko’ denotes location anyway, asking where someone ‘desu’, in combination with ‘doko’, is inevitably, indirectly, also asking at which location that person ‘is’ (iru).

So, I’ll just remember your part about immediacy. Koko made de ii desu!

And thank you again for taking your take to explain it again.

As to your second question: in “hanashi ga arimasu” the subject is “hanashi”, or “talk”, which is an inanimate/non-physical NOUN of the verb “hanasu”, which hence takes “aru”.

In “Denwa de hanashite imasu”, the elided subject is “Watashi wa”, or “I”. The verb “hanashite imasu” thus describes the subject, I, who of course is an animate thing, ie. a person. Thus we use “iru”.

The present progressive does nearly always take “iru” because by its nature it describes continuous actions, which cannot usually be performed by inanimate objects.

Ima futari wa doko desu ka?
(Now) (two people) (topic marker) (where) (copula meaning “are”) (question)

[Ima futari wa] doko ni iru no [desu ka]?
[Now two people] (where) (location marker) (exist) (question marker)

(Ima futari wa) doko ni iru no (desu ka)?
(Now two people) where location marker exist question marker

Ni iru is actually optional. As long as you have the subject (futari) and the question word (doko), you have your fully-formed question. Doko ＋　desu is not rude or anything like that; think of it as just an alternative way of asking the same question “Where are those two people?”.

You could even shorten it even further and just say: Ima, doko? (Where are they now?) or just Doko? (Where are they?) as long as the other person understands who you’re talking about. When I speak on the phone in Japanese and I’m looking for someone I’m supposed to be meeting, I invariably say “ima, doko?” because “ima, doko ni iru no?” is just longer and more of a pain to say!

Of course if you want to ask the question politely, the best ways would be:

Ima, futari wa doko ni iru n desu ka?
Ima, futari wa doko desu ka?

Remember when in a previous thread I discussed the difference between desu and imasu with you? It’s splitting hairs in this instance, but I would say that “doko desu ka” has more of an immediacy about it, like “Where are you RIGHT NOW?” whereas “doko ni iru?” has the image of someone having been somewhere for a while, and continuing to be there now.

Your assertion that “anata wa dare desu ka?” is rude is indeed correct, but NOT because of the “desu ka” when related to a person, but rather because of the word “dare”, which is considered very direct when speaking to someone face-to-face. A better way to ask the same question (and this is using keigo, or respect language, which is above beginner level and which you most likely haven’t learnt yet): donata-sama desu/deshou ka? which translates to something like “May I ask who you are?”

HTH

… hanashi ga arimasu -> Lit. Talk = inanimate (needs to) exist; as in “We need to have a talk.”

Clear so far. But when using the verb ‘hanasu’, we use ‘iru’ for the Present Progressive, like:

Denwa de hanashite imasu. -> I’m talking on the phone.

Is there a deeper reason for that? Or is that simply because the Present Progressive always uses ‘iru’ (near as I can tell)?

Ima futari wa doko desu ka? -> Where are the two now?

When you want to ask where someone is, location-wise, I had just drilled myself to say something like the following:

Doko ni iru no? (Or “Doko ni iru ‘n desu ka?” and variants). To form, in this case,

Ima futari wa doko ni iru ‘n desu ka?

So, clearly, I don’t think I fully understand, after all. I thought it was rude to use doko + desu like that for people? Like “Anata wa dare desu ka?” Could someone clarify this, onegai shimasu?

Thank you for pointing it out.
We’ll fix it as soon as possible.