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The gerund ～ている (-te iru)
In general when the -te form is combined with an intransitive verb
it describes a result or a state, which is translated as the grammatical
perfect, or an action in progress, which is translated as the -ing
form or gerund. When the -te form is combined with a transitive
verb it can only describe an action in progress and is always translated
as the gerund.
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手紙を書く。
(Tegami wo kaku.)
I'm going to write a letter. |
手紙を書いている。
(Tegami wo kaite iru.)
I'm writing a letter. |
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Sometimes however the two verbs should be translated separately
and not as a combination.
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田中さんが東京に行っている。 (Tanaka-san ga Toukyou ni itte iru.)
Mr. Tanaka is in Tokyo (after having gone there). |
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As in English "He's coming over." or "He's going
to Japan." is usually future tense, these should be translated
with the normal rentaikei. If he's actually underway you would use
the -te iru form.
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うちに来る。 (Uchi ni kuru.)
He's coming over. (in the future) |
うちに来ている。 (Uchi ni kite iru.)
He's coming over. (underway) |
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日本へ行きます。 (Nihon e iku.)
He's going to Japan. (in the future) |
日本へ行っています。 (Nihon e itte imasu.)
He's going to Japan. (underway) |
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The -te iru form can also describe a habit. This function is more
or less the same as the rentaikei's function of stating a fact.
There is only a slight difference in nuance.
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朝はいつもお茶を飲んでいます。 (Asa wa itsumo o-cha wo nonde imasu.)
I always drink tea in the morning. (It's a habit I have.)
朝はいつもお茶を飲みます。 (Asa wa itsumo o-cha wo nomimasu.)
I always drink tea in the morning. (It's something I do.) |
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In the spoken language -te iru (～ている) is often abbreviated to -teru
(～てる).
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手紙を書いている。 (Tegami wo kaite iru.)
手紙を書いています。 (Tegami wo kaite imasu.) |
手紙を書いてる。 (Tegami wo kaiteru.)
手紙を書いてます。 (Tegami wo kaitemasu.) |
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The perfect ～てある (-te aru)
The -te aru form can only be used with transitive verbs, and never
with intransitive verbs. The -te aru form can be translated with
the perfect.
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字が筆で書いてある。 (Ji ga fude de kaite aru.)
The characters have been written with a brush. |
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Requests ～てください (-te kudasai)
下さい (kudasai) is the meireikei (命令形), or the imperative, of the
verb 下さる (kudasaru). This verb is part of a series of 5 honorific
verbs* that share an irregular conjugation,
I will discuss these types of verbs in a later lesson. ～てください (-te
kudasai) means "Please do this for me." This construction
is polite (despite the imperative). In informal spoken language
ください (kudasai) is often left out, requests can then be recognized
because the sentence ends on the -te form.
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買ってください。 (Katte kudasai.)
Please buy it.
書いて。 (Kaite.)
Please write it down. (informal) |
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* This is the complete list
of honorific verbs that have an irregular ren'youkei and meireikei
conjugation. This list is put here only for reference, I will be
discussing these verbs in a later lesson.
| いらっしゃる |
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irassharu |
to be (honorific いる) |
| 仰る |
おっしゃる |
ossharu |
to speak, to say (honorific 言う) |
| 御座る |
ござる |
gozaru |
to be (honorific ある) |
| 下さる |
くださる |
kudasaru |
to give (honorific くれる) |
| 為さる |
なさる |
nasaru |
to do (honorific する） |
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