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I have been searching the Internet for an answer to this question for while
now, but to no avail.

If I walk into a room and there's a person there among my friends that I don't
know, in English could say something like "Oh, there's a new face" and go and
greet him or her.

In Japanese, should I use "ああ 新しい顔があります！" or "ああ 新しい顔がいます！"?

The face is attached to a living person, but the face itself is not a living
thing in the same regard.

I would be most grateful for an explanation.
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2016-02-02T08:19:59.570
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2016-02-02T12:51:43.790
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question
word-choice meaning
いる or ある for things attached to living beings
If I am placed in the situation you describe, I say "初めて会う人がいる or 初対面の人がいる".
And I think we don't say "ああ 新しい顔があります！" or "ああ 新しい顔がいます！". It's the direct
translation of an English saying.

In addition, If the situation is in school, we call them 転入生 and 転校生. If the
situation is in a company, we call them 新人.
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2016-02-02T12:28:42.067
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answer
In Japanese, one does not use "いる" to describe things that happen to be
attached to living persons.

You would use "ある" for body-parts, prosthetics, (internal) organs, clothing,
hair, accessories, acne and makeup (although there are more appropriate words
depending on what you are saying). The list goes on.

* * *

The exception would be if whatever item you were describing needed to be
personified. Say you had a really advanced prosthetic, which had an advanced
A.I. that could speak to people, and perhaps convince them that it was
"alive". Or, if we're really getting creative, say you had a [sentient
zit](http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/Doug_the_Pimple). These kinds of rare
cases might call for using "いる".
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2016-02-02T12:39:15.377
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answer