～ている

The ～ている form can express ongoing actions, current states resulting from past actions, and sometimes repeated or habitual actions. Its usage depends on the type of the verb and the context of the sentence.

Action vs. state

When using ～ている, it is important to distinguish between action verbs and state verbs. This distinction determines whether ～ている describes something that is happening now or a state that exists as a result of a past action.

A useful way to think about this is to ask whether the verb has an instant result.

For example, たべる食べる is an action verb. Eating takes time, so ～ている describes the action in progress.

On the other hand, つく (to turn on, as in “the light turned on”) has an instant result. Once the light turns on, the action is finished, and ～ている describes the resulting state.

Action verbs

Ongoing action

The most basic use case of ～ている with action verbs is to express actions that are currently in progress.

This usage is similar to the English “-ing” form.

What’s been happening

～ている can describe something that has been happening continuously up to now.

This usage is similar to the English "to have been -ing" (the present perfect continuous).

Habits and frequent occurrences

With words like いつも, よく, さいきん最近, まいにち毎日, ～ている can describe habitual or repeated actions.

This does not mean “right now”, but rather “as a general pattern”. Compared to the non-past form (運動している vs. 運動する), expressing habits with ～ている adds the nuance of proactivity. It suggests that it is something you yourself decided to do.

State verbs — resulting state

With many verbs, ～ている describes a state that exists as a result of an action, not the action itself.

Here, the focus is on the current state, not on when the action happened.

Note how を is used with action verbs, and が with state verbs.

This is particularly common with intransitive verbs that describe changes or conditions:

もう — already

まだ — not yet

知る vs. 知っている

Even though しる知る is often translated as “to know”, しっている知っている is what actually means “to know” in English.

The verb しる知る actually means “to come to know” — the moment of learning something.

Because of this, Japanese normally uses ～ている to express the state of knowing.

Conjugation

いる in ～ている can be conjugated into any form (as る-verb). Here are some examples:

～ていない: Describes an action that is not happening or a state that has not been achieved.

～ていた: Describes an action that was happening in the past or a state that existed in the past.

～ています / ～ていました: Polite form.

Shortened Form

In informal settings, ～ている is often shortened to ～てる for convenience.

This also applies to conjugated forms of ～ている, for example:

• ～ていた → ～てた
• ～ていない → ～てない
• ～ています → ～てます
• ～ていました → ～てました