Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 7: 5/13

～ている ②State of being, Has (have) done

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(*)

(*) The い can be omitted in casual language.

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Conjunctive Particle

  • Word Type

    Verb

  • Register

    Standard

About ている②

As mentioned in our first ている lesson, this construction is used to convey that someone or something is existing in a constant state of 'doing' the verb that comes before て. Here we will take a closer look at several of the verbs that will be used with ている, to express 'existing in a state of (A) having been done'.

All of these verbs would appear as the past form in English, after the initial thing has 'started', 'come', 'died', or 'gotten angry'. However, this is not the case in Japanese. In Japanese, once something is angry, it exists in the state of being angry, once something has started, it exists in the state of being ongoing, once something dies, it exists in the state of being dead, and so on.

Fun Fact

One of the easiest ways that you can tell whether a verb will use the ている form, or the past form, is to think about whether it can happen twice. Something cannot 'start' twice, so it will use ている. Something cannot die twice, so it will use ている, etc. This does not work with every verb, but will help with over 90% of the verbs that require this form.

  • ピアノが落(お)ちている。
    The piano has fallen. (Existing in the state of having fallen)

Something has fallen and is already on the ground, so it cannot fall again. ている will be used.

Examples

--:--

    あのカバは太(ふと)っていない。

    That hippopotamus over there isn't fat. (The hippopotamus is in the state of not being fat)

    バスは今(いま)大阪(おおさか)に来(き)ています。

    The bus is in Osaka now. (The bus has come to Osaka and is there now)

    パーティーは始(は)じまっている。

    The party has begun. (The party has begun and is still going on)

    電車(でんしゃ)は東京(とうきょう)に行(い)っています。

    The train is in Tokyo. (The train has gone to Tokyo and is there)

    ななさんのバナナは腐(くさ)っています。

    Nana's banana is rotten. (Nana's banana is in a state of being rotten)

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      ている② – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (18 in total)

      • SeanFM

        SeanFM

        I’ve got the negative form of this (していない) wrong a few times now.

        My first guess just now was してるない for this sentence: サスケさんは結婚していないでしょう？

        How does the conjugation work here? Is it just that いない is the negative form of いる or something?

      • IcyIceBear

        IcyIceBear

        Yep いる becomes いない. The いる at the end will conjugate like an ichidan/る verb

        So like
        食べる 食べない
        食べます 食べません

        食べている 食べていない
        食べています 食べていません

      • dharlequin

        dharlequin

        Thanks for this!
        It feels like it should be covered in the grammar topic itself, and not just hidden in the discussions.

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