Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 5: 10/12

～ている ①Is, 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

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.

    今(いま)、勉強(べんきょう)していないよ。

    I am not studying now.

    今(いま)、兄(あに)は寝(ね)ていません。

    My older brother is not sleeping 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 (16 in total)

  • 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.

  • ctmf

    ctmf

    Hey can I resurrect this thread to 2nd onekun’s confusion?

    I think I get the ~ている as ongoing action concept, and even the ~てて conjuction of more than one verb phrase, but I would never think to use it like this

    これを捨ててください (from one of the -ra pluralizer prompts)

    How is this different from これを捨てください?

    Edit: duh never mind the first て is part of the verb itself. Question not deleted so I can feel the shame.

    (Still, I feel like I do see that ~てて sometimes when it’s not conjunctive, just never at a convenient time to catch it and ask. Still watching for a good example)

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