aspect N5 essential casualpolitewritten
ている — ongoing action and resulting state
ている
Builds on て形
Meaning
① ongoing action: ≈ -ing — an action currently in progress
② resulting state: is (in the state of) ~ — a state left by a completed change
Key sentence
① ongoing action
子どもが公園で遊んでいる。
A child is playing in the park.
② resulting state
兄は結婚している。
My older brother is married.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb (て-form) | V-て + いる | 読む → 読んでいる |
Variants
てる — the い drops in casual speech: 遊んでる, 知ってる
Examples
① ongoing action
今、雨が降っている。
It's raining right now.
姉は電話で話している。
My sister is talking on the phone.
② resulting state
窓が開いている。
The window is open.
彼の名前を知っている。
I know his name.
When you can't use it
- Punctual change-of-state verbs (知る, 死ぬ, 結婚する) take only the resulting-state reading: 知っている = 'know', never 'am knowing'. They cannot express an action in progress. resulting state
Easily confused with
Notes
- After verbs whose て-form voices to で (読む → 読んで, 遊ぶ → 遊んで, 死ぬ → 死んで), the auxiliary voices to で too: 読んでいる, 遊んでいる. Same grammar as ている, just the で-form.
See ている in real sentences
Jengo shows ている the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar.