Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 10/12

～ている ①

Is, Am, Are (~ing)

ている is often shortened to てる. This applies to all tenses, including てる, てて, てた, and even てます

Structure

Verb［て］+ いる
Verb［て］+ る

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Conjunctive Particle

  • Word Type

    Verb

  • Register

    Standard

  • 品詞

    接続助詞

  • 単語の種類

    動詞

  • 使用域

    一般

About ている①

ている is a construction used in Japanese to convey that someone or something is existing in a constant state of 'doing' the verb that comes before て. In English, depending on the verb, this can be translated as 'is (A)', 'am (A), or 'are (A)~ing'. The expression is made by adding いる to the て form of either る-Verbs, or う-Verbs.

Due to いる being one of the verbs for 'existing' in Japanese, the ている form means something closer to 'continuing to exist in a specific state', rather than (A)~ing in English. This is why verbs like 死(し)ぬ, and 知(し)る, appear as the ている form in Japanese, when they would appear as the past form in English.

Examples

  • 何(なに)をしている？

    What are you doing?

  • 寿司(すし)を食(た)べている。

    I am eating sushi.

  • 寿司(すし)を食(た)べています。

    I am eating sushi.

  • 今(いま)、勉強(べんきょう)していないよ。

    I am not studying now.

  • 彼(かれ)は図書館(としょかん)で日本語(にほんご)を勉強(べんきょう)しているだろう。

    He is studying Japanese at the library, right?

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ている① – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (15 in total)

  • IcyIceBear

    IcyIceBear

    Have you learned the negative form of ichidan verbs? The one where you drop the る and add ない/ません

  • mietolim

    mietolim

    I figured after checking the correct answer that’s it’s probably related to that grammar point, still, it could be useful to have a mention of it in this grammar point to make it clear how it works. I assume there isn’t a separate lesson about the negative form of 〜ている later on.

  • tonbo

    tonbo

    Was in the same boat as @mietolim here. In part because I’m following the Genki path and casual negation is actually covered after the basics of て. I agree, that a pointer would be nice as I also expected the page to be more “batteries included” in light of the other high quality info that is already there.

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