Utilization of the Te-form: てしまう, てある, ておく, and てみる

Last time, you learned how to express the beginning, the middle, and the end of actions: 料りょう理りを 作つくり始はじめた・作つくっているところだ・作つくり終おわった. You have almost completed Japanese tense and aspect. In this lesson, we will pick up the rest of them. And don’t worry, all of them can be expressed by using the single form: te-form.

Explanation for How to Utilize the Te-form for Various Expressions

As you have already learned, the te-form can be a base for other expressions in terms of conjugation. If you attach いる to the te-form, you can express progressive tense, resultant states, customary actions, and experience. Just like that, you can express various things by attaching other phrase to the te-form.

…てしまう: Complete Actions or Unintentional Actions

The first function is to express complete actions which are something like “to do something completely,” or “to have something done.” With the example above, we have applied the ta-form for しまう, but you can use this in the future tense, too.

The second function is to express unintentional or regrettable actions. Although this function is totally different from the first one, we use the same form. Therefore, you need to judge whether which function しまう works as.

てしまう has two colloquial expressions which are じゃう and ちゃう. You don’t have to use them, but should recognize when native speakers use them to you. The point here is that the replacement needs to include て and で, i.e. てしまう => ちゃう and でしまう => じゃう.

…てある: Resultant States

We need to explain the concept here. First of all, …てある is always used with transitive verbs. If you plainly say the example above, you would say “窓まどを開あける (I will open the window).” Then, the momentary action: 開あける would result in the state: 窓まどを開あけている (I kept the window open).” This is from your point of view. What if you express the resultant state from the third person’s point of view? You can say “窓まどが開あけてある (The window is kept open). This is the function of …てある, which expresses resultant states given by someone. When you use this, the usage of particles matters. With the plain expression, the particle を is used because you kept the window open, i.e. the window is an object. However, when you see it from the third person’s point of view, the window is already open, i.e. the window is a subject. Therefore, the standard particle is が. Then, you can replace it with は and も depending on contexts.

When transitive verbs have its counterparts in intransitive verbs. They can express very similar things. The difference is …てある implies that actions are taken by someone. Let’s see the comparison: 開あく (intransitive) + te-form + いる vs. 開あける (transitive) + te-form + ある.

There is a usage to use the particle を. That way, you generally express resultant states with a nuance of preparation. In this context, doers are subjects. The followings are examples in conversation.

…ておく: Preparatory Actions

The function is to express preparatory actions for the future. As you may notice, the meaning is very similar to てある with the particle を.

Difference between ておく and てある

Both of them essentially express “[I] bought a Japanese dictionary (for the future).” With the example of ておく, you have applied the ta-form for it. However, you don’t need to do so for …てある. It is because …てある indicates resultant states while ておいた indicates preparatory actions in the past.

…てある is not suitable for expressing future tense because the form is exactly same as the one for past tense and just indicates states when momentary actions are already done (=resultant states).

…てみる: Trial Actions

The function is to express trial actions. This can be translated as “try to do” or “try something out” in English.

Summary

1. …てしまう expresses complete actions, or unintentional or regretful actions.
2. …てある expresses resultant states.
3. …ておく expresses preparatory actions.
4. …てみる expresses trial actions.

From the above, you can see how important the te-form is. By utilizing the te-form, you can express a variety of things. We know the conjugation is not easy, but please try to memorize it properly. You will learn more and more uses in upcoming lessons. And so ends the last lesson in the tense and aspect section. Great job!