できる for expressing that something has come into existence

Hello all,

it’s my first time using the forums even though I’ve almost completed all the levels. Sorry about that, Crabigator.

My question is about one of the uses of できる when referring to things that have come into existence. The example sentence that got me confused is:

私の家の近くに新しい店ができた。

At first I thought that the correct particle after 近く would be で, as is usual for referring to locations where things take place. The only other verbs that I knew took に for locations were ある and いる. Locations also take に when they are the target of a movement, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Genki touches on this use of できる briefly, but doesn’t go into any details, and I’ve been able to find other example sentences where the に particle is used, but no concrete explanation for this. I am not sure whether this is a set rule for this particular verb, or if there is something else that I am not seeing (a connection with ある, for example, or the function of the place in this sentence (location vs target)).

I guess my main concern is whether this can happen with other verbs too, or that I’m maybe misinterpreting the sentence. I understand it as:

A new shop has opened near my house.

I hope you guys can help me understand what’s going on. Thank you!

Jisho lists “to be made; to be built​” as one of the meanings of 出来る:

あのサッカーボールは本物の皮でできている。

The imabi article for に uses に in this sentence about building buildings.

  1. 都市にたくさんの建物を建てる。
    To build a lot of buildings in the city.

So since できる in the sentence you asked about is effectively the same meaning, it makes sense that it would also use に instead of で. Why a building being built is not categorized as other kinds of actions (which would take で) is something I don’t think I can explain with any certainty off the top of my head.

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Thanks! This is helpful.

I’ll just memorize it as a set rule for the time being.

I’ve always thought of に in this sense as a particle used to express the idea of something being placed somewhere or going to a location. The verb できる in this sense is translated as something like “to be built”. My understanding of 私の家の近くに新しい店ができた, is that it means something like “a new store was built (into a place) near my home”. It sounds weird in English, but I think that’s what is going on here.

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Thanks! The literal English translation sounds kind of awkward, but it makes sense. I’ll just have to study more to get used to it.

Just tossing out a theory here, but this might also be a sort of extension of the meaning of できる meaning to finish, as in the construction or setting up of the shop is now complete (and therefore it’s open for business).

I think we use に because the appearance of shops didn’t happen in the vicinity, but to the vicinity. In other words, で would imply that the location was unchanged by this event happening there, which is clearly untrue: Changing the location was the primary result of this event.

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