GrammarJLPT N5
→ ongoing action marker
Progressive Action, Ongoing State, or Resultant State
JLPT N5Conjugation patternNeutral
～ている is one of the most fundamental and versatile grammar patterns in Japanese. It is formed by attaching いる to the て-form of a verb and expresses three major ideas: an action currently in progress (similar to English 'is doing'), a habitual or repeated action ('does regularly'), and a resultant state that continues after an action has been completed ('has done / is in a state of'). Which meaning applies depends largely on the type of verb. With activity verbs like 食べる or 読む, ～ている typically describes an action in progress. With change-of-state or instantaneous verbs like 結婚する, 知る, or 死ぬ, it describes the state resulting from a completed action — for example, 知っている means 'I know' (the state of having come to know), not 'I am knowing.' This distinction is a source of frequent confusion for learners. In casual spoken Japanese, ～ている is very often contracted to ～てる (e.g., 食べてる). The polite form is ～ています. Unlike ～てある, which focuses on someone having done something intentionally and the result being visible, ～ている is broader and can be used with both transitive and intransitive verbs.
Functions
#1 Action in progress
Structure
Verb (て-form) + いる
田中さんは 今 本を 読んでいます。たなかさん は いま ほん を よんで います。
Here ～ている indicates that the action of reading is currently in progress at the moment of speaking. The verb 読む is an activity verb, so 読んでいます naturally conveys the sense of 'is reading.' The time word 今 reinforces that this is happening right now, though ～ている alone is often enough to establish that an action is ongoing.Tanaka is reading a book right now.
Structures
- General pattern
- Verb (て-form) + いる
- Polite form
- Verb (て-form) + います
- Casual contraction
- Verb (て-form) + る (drop い)
Common mistakes
One of the most common mistakes is using the plain verb instead of ～ている for states. For example, learners often say 知る to mean 'I know,' but in Japanese the correct form is 知っている because it expresses the resulting state of having learned something. Conversely, the negative 'I don't know' is simply 知らない, not 知っていない, which is another frequent error. Another mistake is confusing ～ている with ～てある; ～ている describes an action in progress or a resulting state neutrally, while ～てある implies that someone intentionally performed the action and is used only with transitive verbs. Learners also sometimes forget that the casual contraction ～てる is very common in everyday speech and may not recognize it in listening. Finally, failing to distinguish whether a verb is an activity verb or a change-of-state verb leads to incorrect interpretation — for instance, 死んでいる means 'is dead' (resultant state), not 'is dying.'
Related
～てある～ていた～ているところ～てくる～ていく