で used with non-action verbs like あります


On another forum I encountered the sentence 私の国では色々な店にあります。I understood it as
“In my country [it] is in various stores.” But I am wondering about the use of
the particle で. In common grammatical explanations, one of the main uses of で
is to mark the location of action, such as 私は学校で勉強します。However, since あります does
not seem to be an action verb (or is it?), how is で used in the above
sentence?




In your example, あります is primarily connected with 色々な店 **に**. This で is a
condition/scope marker rather than a location marker. This type of で describes
the "situation" where the following statement holds true. It doesn't have to
mark a location, and it doesn't have to be used with an action verb. In your
case, it happens to mark a location and happens to modify ある.

>   * 英語 **で** は彼に勝てるが、数学 **で** は勝てない。
>   * 全員 **で** 考えましょう。
>   * 世界 **で** 最も **高い** 山はエベレストです。
>   * 日本 **で** は魚が **おいしい** 。
>




In your example, あります is primarily connected with 色々な店 **に**. This で is a
condition/scope marker rather than a location marker. This type of で describes
the "situation" where the following statement holds true. It doesn't have to
mark a location, and it doesn't have to be used with an action verb. In your
case, it happens to mark a location and happens to modify ある.

>   * 英語 **で** は彼に勝てるが、数学 **で** は勝てない。
>   * 全員 **で** 考えましょう。
>   * 世界 **で** 最も **高い** 山はエベレストです。
>   * 日本 **で** は魚が **おいしい** 。
>

