Present Progressive Tense & Resultant States with Te-form

Last time, you learned what the plain form can express, which are the two usages of present tense: constant states like “歯はを磨みがくことは大切たいせつです (Brushing teeth is important),” and customary actions like “毎朝まいあさ歯はを磨みがきます (I brush my teeth every morning),” and future tense: “今いまから歯はを磨みがきます (I will brush my teeth from now).” Then, if you want to say, “I’m brushing my teeth,” how would you say it? In this lesson, you will learn present progressive tense and resultant states.

How Present Progressive Tense and Resultant State Work with Te-form

First of all, let’s learn what the te-form is. It is one of the most important forms to know when learning Japanese because it can be a base for other various forms, which include present progressive tense and resultant states. The conjugation rule is complicated when compared with others, especially when it comes to u-verbs. You have to conjugate u-verbs differently depending on the last character.

Conjugation Rule of the Te-form

Ru-verbs: Replace る with て

Two Exceptions

U-verbs: Four Different Rules with One Exception

Further Conjugation

Again, the te-form can be a base for other forms. For example, if you attach いる, it indicates present progressive tense as shown below.

Ongoing Actions (Present Progressive Tense) and Ongoing States (Resultant States)

Present progressive tense expresses what you are doing now, which you can think about as ongoing actions. By contrast, resultant states express a state resulting from a momentary action, e.g. “to get married” is a momentary action and will result in a state: “I’m married.” You can think about these states as ongoing states. Unlike English, we express them with only one form: te-form + いる.

Present Progressive Tense

Present progressive tense is equivalent to “be + verb-ing” in English, and expresses continuous actions. This is very simple for English speakers. Here are more examples.

Resultant State

The resultant states are expressed with various forms in English as shown by the translations below. However, you express this with only a single form: “te-form + いる” in Japanese. This may be a little confusing for English speakers. With the above example, 着きる indicates just a momentary action like “to put on” and 着きている indicates a state which is equivalent to “to wear.”

If you use the plain form of verbs which indicate states, you can express the moments that states will begin.

Note: verbs that indicate constant states cannot be “te-form + いる.”

水みずが要いっている。 => Wrong!
水みずが要いる。Lit. [I] need water.

Motion Verbs with the Te-form + いる

If motion verbs with the te-form + いる are used with destinations, it can work differently and indicate that you have already finished moving and are still at the destination. Here are more examples.

You need to judge which function motion verbs work as based on the context when you use 行いく and 来くる. They work as normal progressive tense, too.

Supplementary Learning: Colloquial Expressions

昼ひるごはんを食たべて（いる / います）。
サッカーをして（いる / います）。
笑わらって（いない / いません）。
寝ねている（の / んですか）？

Native speakers often omit い from the te-form when they are casually speaking.

(Advanced Topic) Customary Actions: the Plain Form VS. the Te-form + いる

Customary actions can actually be expressed by both the plain form and the te-form + いる. The above examples have the same meaning: “[I] sleep for eight hours every day.” The difference of the nuance is still controversial among linguists.

It is said that the te-form + いる implies that actions are temporary customs. With the above examples, only the first one indicates a customary action because しばらく indicates “not to smoke” is temporary.

However, the te-form + いる can often work even if actions are not temporary. Therefore, we can say that the te-form + いる is more versatile. If you have difficulty choosing the proper one, you may just use the te-form + いる.

Summary

1. The te-form requires you to differently conjugate u-verbs depending on the last character.
2. Present progressive tense indicates ongoing actions like “I’m learning Japanese.”
3. Resultant states indicate ongoing states like “I wear Japanese clothes.”
4. Motion verbs with the te-form + いる can indicates you have moved and stay there now.

For Japanese native speakers, it is very useful to be able to express present progressive tense and resultant states with a single form, because if something is ongoing, you can just use verbs with the te-form + いる. If you are confused, please try to memorize what each form can express. You have learned the plain form and the te-form + いる now. Next, you will dig into constant states in order to express existence and possession.