Struggle with understanding this use of ていらっしゃる


Sorry for the beginner question. I'm on Genki chapter 20 and one question asks
to translate "he did not bring" with honorific language. The answer the book
gives is "持ってきていらっしゃらなかった". I would have thought that this meant "was not
bringing" and I still don't understand why it doesn't lol




First of all, you have to understand the following two points:

  * -ている has two functions, "progressive" and "resultant state" (see [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3122/5010) if you need a refresher).
  * いらっしゃる is the honorific verb for all of いる, 行く and 来る.

Therefore, one honorific version of 持ってくる is **持っていらっしゃる** , and you can make
this simply by replacing くる with いらっしゃる. Its negative-past version is
持っていらっしゃらなかった. Another honorific version of 持ってくる is お持ちになる, which can somehow
mean "to bring (here)" or "to take (to somewhere)" without explicitly saying
くる or いく. So if you answered 持っていらっしゃらなかった or お持ちにならなかった, rest assured that
these are perfectly correct honorific translations of "[He] did not bring
[it]".

However, 持ってきていらっしゃらなかった is also a correct phrase. In this case, いらっしゃる is the
honorific version of いる (because there is already くる).

The difference between 持っていらっしゃらなかった and 持ってきていらっしゃらなかった is basically the same
difference between 持ってこなかった and 持ってきていなかった. This may seem confusing, but both
of these are valid translations of "[He] did not bring [it]", and are used
more of less interchangeably to describe a past event. This use of -ていない is a
tricky topic but has little to do with honorifics themselves. Please read:
[Why is a verb in the past (た形) contradicted with
～ていない?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/42242/5010)

Finally, 持ってきていらっしゃらなかった can possibly have a progressive meaning ("He was not
bringing it (on his way)") depending on the context, but it's not the primary
interpretation of this phrase when there is no context.




First of all, you have to understand the following two points:

  * -ている has two functions, "progressive" and "resultant state" (see [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3122/5010) if you need a refresher).
  * いらっしゃる is the honorific verb for all of いる, 行く and 来る.

Therefore, one honorific version of 持ってくる is **持っていらっしゃる** , and you can make
this simply by replacing くる with いらっしゃる. Its negative-past version is
持っていらっしゃらなかった. Another honorific version of 持ってくる is お持ちになる, which can somehow
mean "to bring (here)" or "to take (to somewhere)" without explicitly saying
くる or いく. So if you answered 持っていらっしゃらなかった or お持ちにならなかった, rest assured that
these are perfectly correct honorific translations of "[He] did not bring
[it]".

However, 持ってきていらっしゃらなかった is also a correct phrase. In this case, いらっしゃる is the
honorific version of いる (because there is already くる).

The difference between 持っていらっしゃらなかった and 持ってきていらっしゃらなかった is basically the same
difference between 持ってこなかった and 持ってきていなかった. This may seem confusing, but both
of these are valid translations of "[He] did not bring [it]", and are used
more of less interchangeably to describe a past event. This use of -ていない is a
tricky topic but has little to do with honorifics themselves. Please read:
[Why is a verb in the past (た形) contradicted with
～ていない?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/42242/5010)

Finally, 持ってきていらっしゃらなかった can possibly have a progressive meaning ("He was not
bringing it (on his way)") depending on the context, but it's not the primary
interpretation of this phrase when there is no context.

