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LEARN + JAPANESE / 16 of 186 JLPT N5

Right Now, and Ever Since 〜ている

Your friend asks what you’re doing, and you answer 本を読んでいます. The same 〜ている form can describe an action in progress, a habit, or a state that continues.

Happening Right Now

A Habit

Hint · 힌트
Nothing in this sentence marks it as happening this exact second, 毎日 (every day) is what pushes the meaning from “right now” to “as a rule.” Same ending, different meaning, entirely dependent on context.

A Lasting State

Hint · 힌트
結婚しています doesn’t mean “I am marrying right now,” it means the marrying already happened and the resulting state is still true. Verbs describing a one-time change, 結婚する (to marry), 住む (to live somewhere), 知る (to find out) all shift to ている to describe the state that change left behind, not the instant it occurred.

Describing Someone

Hint · 힌트
被っている sits directly in front of 人 as a modifier, exactly the same modifying position -ㄴ/은 or -는 would take in Korean, or a relative clause in English (“the person who is wearing”). This is one of the most common ways to describe someone by what they’re wearing or holding at the moment.

Vocabulary

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YOUR PROGRESS

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