Quote:
Originally Posted by StueyT
Thanks Sashi.
I didn't actually see that particular verb with the ていました form, in actual fact it was ならべていた <snip>
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Just to get back to basics, ている or てゐる has three functions. One with a English equivalent and the rest which is uniquely Japanese.
The first one is progressive, which is the same as ING in English. 本を読んでいる, READING a book, i.e. the person is in the process of reading the book right now and it is a continuous action. 走っている the person is the process of running. Verbs in this category are generally transitive.
The second one which a lot of Japanese learners gets confused on is a state of being. Exampels includes 忘れる. 忘れている doesn't mean you are in the process of forgetting something, doesn't make sense anyway. What it means is that in the present state, and this state is continuous. I.e. メガネを忘れている means I have forgotten my glasses and still can't remember it right now at this very moment.
結婚している doesn't mean you are in a ceremony this minute, it means you are married and still married now (and not divorced). Put it in the past tense, 結婚していた would imply that the person was married for a period of time in the past but there is no gurantee that that person is married right this moment. Verbs in this category are generally intrasitive.
Confusion kicks into high gear with verbs such as 来る. 来ている does not mean the person is coming, it means the person is already here. 来る in this context means to arrive and in the ている form, means the person has arrived, and is here right now (since the person is in the state of arriving at the final destination this moment and hasn't left).
With Sino-loan words, a lot of times, a verb can be both trasitive and intrasitive, in which case you are pretty much screwed j/k. You just have to deduce from context whether the person is expressing state of being or progressive.
The third use which is a bit less trippy is used to to express an action that is habitual and done regularly such as 私は毎日、新聞を読んでいる. I read the newspaper everyday. Again it does not mean I am reading the newspaper right now, simply that I read the newspaper regularly.
Just make sure you get the basics of grammar first, and read, read and re-read your grammar books over and over until you don't have to think about this stuff anymore. For more info, I'd recommend the book "初級を教える人のための日本語文法ハンドブック". You can get it at Amazon.jp for a reasonable price.