ている, てある, ておく, てしまう: What the Japanese て-Form Is Really Doing

You learned the て-form to join two sentences and to ask for things: 待まって, 見みてください. Then the textbook started hanging other verbs off the end of it — いる, ある, おく, しまう — and each one changed the meaning in a way that was never quite explained. They are not four idioms to memorize. Each one answers the same question about the action: where are you looking from?

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Every example sentence has audio, and its English is blurred on purpose. Read the Japanese first, then tap the blur to check yourself.

Here is the whole lesson in two sentences:

窓まどが開あいている ・ 窓まどが開あけてあるsame open window — one just reports it, the other says somebody meant it

Why These Four Get Confused

Because English does the same jobs with tone of voice, adverbs and context, not with grammar. “The window is open” could be a plain observation or a hint that someone left it that way. “I’ll close the door” could be about right now or about getting ready for later. “I ate the cake” could be a boast or a confession. Japanese puts each of those into the verb ending, so a learner who thinks in English hears four ways of saying the same thing.

Every one of them keeps the て-form verb exactly as it is and adds a second verb that tells you where you are standing in time, and whether anyone meant for this to happen. (If the て-form itself is still new, start with our JLPT N5 guide to the て-form and come back.)

The Four Endings at a Glance

The whole lesson on one card.

ているWhat Is Going On, and How Things Are

The “-ing” you learned first is a third of the story. ている also describes a state — and with a verb that happens in a moment, the state is the only thing it can mean.

てあるSomebody Did It, and It Still Shows

てある also describes a state, which is why it gets tangled with ている. The difference is that てある carries a person inside it. Somebody did this, on purpose, and the result is still here. The grammar gives it away: てある takes the verb from the を side of a pair (開あける, not 開あく), and the thing acted on shows up with が.

ておくDo It Now, for Later

ておく looks ahead. You do the action now because of something coming: a guest, a trip, a test. English gets there with “beforehand” or “in advance,” or with nothing at all and the listener working it out.

てしまうFinished, and No Taking It Back

てしまう looks back. The action is over — all of it — and that can feel like relief or like regret, depending on what the action was. In casual speech it squeezes down to ちゃう: 忘わすれてしまった → 忘れちゃった.

One Door, Four Endings

The fastest way to feel the difference is to hold the sentence still and change only the ending. One door. The verb is 閉しまる or 閉しめる every time.

Three Sentences Worth Getting Wrong Once

1. The wrong half of the pair

✗ 駐車場ちゅうしゃじょうに車くるまが止とまってあります。 This wants to say someone parked a car there, and it reaches for the right ending. But 止とまる is the verb with no object, and てある will not take it.

駐車場ちゅうしゃじょうに車くるまが止とめてあります。 てある needs the を-side verb, 止とめる. If you only want to say a car is sitting there, with no one in the picture, 車が止まっています is right.

2. Knowing is a state

✗ 私わたしは田中たなかさんを知しります。 Every learner says this once, because “I know” is present tense in English. In Japanese, 知しる is the moment of finding out, so 知ります means “I will find out.”

私わたしは田中たなかさんを知しっています。 Knowing is the state you are in after finding out, so it takes ている. (The negative is plain 知しりません, never 知っていません.)

3. Done, or going to do?

Someone asks 会議かいぎの準備じゅんびは？ — “What about the meeting prep?” ✗ はい、しておきます。 That is a promise: “I’ll take care of it in advance.” If the prep is already finished, you have just told your boss it is not.

会議かいぎの準備じゅんびはもうしてあります。 ておく is the action, looking ahead; てある is the result, looking back. Pair them: 予約よやくしておきました then, 予約してあります now.

Quick Self-Check