72922
In my textbook it says that to say:

> There is a good restaurant in this building.

the translation is:

> このたてものにいいレストランがあります。

However, why is が used and not は? Would は be indicating a contrast (for
example, a good restaurant exists in this building but not something else,
like a shoe store)?

This leads me to a general question about intransitive verbs: it seems that
intransitive verbs almost always have が before them so why is が used over は in
these cases?
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question
particles verbs transitivity
が vs は for intransitive verbs
This が is used to introduce a new thing into the discourse. It's one of the
most basic functions of が, and I believe you have learned it before. It
roughly corresponds to "a" as in " **a** good restaurant". See: [What's the
difference between wa (は) and ga
(が)?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/22/5010)

* * *

> Would は be indicating a contrast?

The sentence in question has nothing to do with a contrast. It's just a plain
sentence that means "There is a good restaurant". If you used は, that would
turn the sentence into a contrastive sentence.

> このたてものにいいレストラン **は** あります。  
>  (Although there is no shoe store / I know you're looking for a bar, but)
> There is at least a good restaurant in this building.

This makes sense only in a special context.

* * *

> This leads me to a general question about intransitive verbs: it seems that
> intransitive verbs almost always have が before them so why is が used over は
> in these cases?

Transitivity of the verb has nothing to do with the choice between が/は, so you
should forget that observation. We can safely say 彼は走った "He ran", for example.
(If you saw が used for something that has already been introduced into the
discourse, it may be related to [neutral description-
ga](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/68933/5010). But it has nothing to do
with the original sentence in your question.)
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answer