"Is there a police box in this town?"

Translation: この町に交番はありますか？

[jayfresh]

Why isn't this このまちにはこうばんがありますか?

[dexpanyol]

This answer was accepted when I tried it just now.

[ahANpg]

Yes it can. But Duo does not want to accept as the correct answer

[AdamScott794079]

Yes, that's why there are no cybermen.

[jesussushi]

Why have people downvoted this you made me laugh out loud

[KillerShah]

I downvoted you, because this is not a place for joke

[jesussushi]

Please get a sense of humour lmao

[HkyK4]

Duo should put dates on the comments.

[howardzzh]

この町に交番は有りますか

[armein]

Why not 交番が？Usually あります is ruled by が isn't it?

[armein]

Sorry, I see it's been approved already. But how come both が and は can be used over here? Any difference in meaning?

[Iiwha]

この町に交番はありますか？was my answer. It was not accepted. Is this because I somehow used the wrong kanji, or is duolingo trying to get me to not hurt my poor brain with loads of kanji?

[P_Angela]

What is a police box?

[armein]

A police office Japanese style. Check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dban

[AlyssaKawaii]

I dont understand why ni comes before wa

[mzerrath]

Is there a purpose to the particle に here? Couldn't the particles be は and が respectively (even in question format)?

[ahANpg]

There is an unwritten grammar rule that says は cannot appear more than once within the same sentence. Also, に is paired to あります for the sentence structure; "place / item / object " に ある for existence of something or an location

To simplify further,

まち に ~ ありますか means "Is there ~ at, in the town ？"

[BeccaCarol]

Actually, just had a duo lesson in which it was important to use は twice in one sentence!! It was something like, during the test you can't look at your textbook. テストは、looking at your textbookは、isn't allowed. For realz!

[ixdxkx]

この町に交番は／がありますか。is not accepted.

[kalun11]

Isn't the topic supposed to be in front?

[RayyanSheh1]

【交番-こうばん】Police box