What's the rule for "にしている"?


The sentence that that I heard was 頼りにしている。 Google Translate tells me that
means "I'm counting on you". My understanding of Japanese tells me "this
doesn't compute". Is there a general rule for translating にしている or している in
sentences like this? What's the general meaning of that phrase?




頼り is the noun form of verb 頼る (tayor-u), and here 頼り means a thing/person to
count on. Examples:

> 君だけが頼りだ。 I can only count on you.  
>  地図を頼りに家を探す look for the house with the help of a map (This example is from
> [Daijisen](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E9%A0%BC%E3%82%8A&stype=1&dtype=0&dname=0na);
> the English translation is by me.)

In general, AをBにする means “turn A into B.” Setting B=頼り, Aを頼りにする means “turn A
into ‘something to count on’,” or in more natural English, it means “count on
A.”

(Well, strictly speaking, Aを頼りにする does not turn anything into something
different, but AをBにする is used even in this case. Another example of this usage
is 遠足を楽しみにする (look forward to the picnic); see
[Daijirin](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=1),
sense 【2】[5].)

In your case, A is not specified. I am a little bit fuzzy here, but I think
that by default, 頼りにしている means あなたを頼りにしている. Therefore, Google Translate is
correct in this case: it means “I am counting on you.”




頼り is the noun form of verb 頼る (tayor-u), and here 頼り means a thing/person to
count on. Examples:

> 君だけが頼りだ。 I can only count on you.  
>  地図を頼りに家を探す look for the house with the help of a map (This example is from
> [Daijisen](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?p=%E9%A0%BC%E3%82%8A&stype=1&dtype=0&dname=0na);
> the English translation is by me.)

In general, AをBにする means “turn A into B.” Setting B=頼り, Aを頼りにする means “turn A
into ‘something to count on’,” or in more natural English, it means “count on
A.”

(Well, strictly speaking, Aを頼りにする does not turn anything into something
different, but AをBにする is used even in this case. Another example of this usage
is 遠足を楽しみにする (look forward to the picnic); see
[Daijirin](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=1),
sense 【2】[5].)

In your case, A is not specified. I am a little bit fuzzy here, but I think
that by default, 頼りにしている means あなたを頼りにしている. Therefore, Google Translate is
correct in this case: it means “I am counting on you.”

