In the last lesson, you learned a pretty handy grammar point known as the TEて form, and as you’ve come to realize its great at making connections. Today we’ll be adding on a little something extra to the TE form known as the TE IRU form. The ている form of a verb is used to express the -ing, or in a more technical term, the present progressive.
Conjugating ている Form
The conjugation of the ている form isn’t too tricky, but there are certain things you need to be careful of when doing so. We’ll be looking at る, う、 and irregular verbs to make this lesson as in-depth as possible.
る Verbs
Think of conjugating these verbs in the て form first, and then simply add いる. A nifty trick is to remember that いる by itself means ‘to be/to exist.’ So, let’s apply that trick to our favorite る verb, 食べる (to eat). First comes the て form, 食べて, then add いる、食べている. “To exist eating.”
う verbs
Unfortunately, うverbs always have to go and make things hard in Japanese. Conjugating these won’t be as easy since うverbs can end in つ, る, む, ぬ, く, ぐ, and す. The same rule still applies, but you need to conjugate with caution.
Here are some examples
飲むーのんでいる
踊るーおどっている
脱ぐーぬいでる
持つ― もっている
書くー かいてる
If you looked at that and went “これはなに？ “It’s okay, I did too.
- For verbs ending in む, remove the う, replace the ‘m’ sound with ん and て becomes で. As for the rest, add いる。
- For う verbs ending in る, take off the る add a small っ, and then follow up with ている。
- For verbs ending in ぐ, take off the ぐ、and add いでいる。
- For verbs ending in く, take off the く, and add いている.
- For verbs ending in つ, replace the つ with a small っ and add ている。
Irregular verbs
Irregular verbs with the ているform are much more forgiving than that of the うverbs. So, you won’t have to struggle as much. The irregular verbs you’ve learned so far are する、くる。
する becomes している。
くる becomes きている 。
It’s that simple!
ているUses
As mentioned earlier this form is used for when you want to express the act of doing something, hence the -ing form. Whether it’s eating, swimming, walking, running, singing, dancing, drinking, etc., the ているcan help you with expressing all of that. It can also be used in connection with the て form to make connections to present progressive actions (-ing). Let’s practice with dialogue; it’ll be easy I promise. But a few notes before we start our practice! Think of ている like any other verb conjugation; it can be used in the negative, polite, or short form, along with many other ways that we won’t get into in this exact lesson, so keep that in mind.
See if you can translate the dialogue while identifying the uses of the ている form.
Practice I
See if you can translate the dialogue while identifying the uses of the ている form.
メアリ：ね。。。たけしさん、何をしている。
たけし：しゅくだいをしています。あなたは。。。？
メアリ：テレビを見ていて、みずをのんでいます。
たけし：ああ、そうですか。宿題がありませんでしょう。
メアリ：ありませんよ。今、ピッザを食べています ?。
Practice II
Conjugate these verbs into the ているform.
- かつぐ
２．おどる
３．かりる
４．のぞむ
５．くる
Answer Key
Practice I
Mary: Takeshi, what are you doing?
Takeshi: I am doing my homework, how about you?
Mary: I’m watching T.V and drinking water
Takeshi: Oh, I see. So, you don’t have any homework I assume?
Mary: Nope. Now, I’m eating pizza ?.
Practice II
1. かついでる
- おどっている
- かりている
- のぞんでいる
- きている