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]+

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 . 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 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 (), and (), appear as the ている form in Japanese, when they would appear as the past form in English.

Examples

  • (なに)ている

    What are you doing?

    • 寿司(すし)()ている

      I am eating sushi.

      • 寿司(すし)()ています

        I am eating sushi.

        • (いま)勉強(べんきょう)ていない

          I am not studying now.

          • (かれ)図書館(としょかん)日本語(にほんご)勉強(べんきょう)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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