Can you explain この建物は築100年以上たっている to me?


I was studying the word 以上 and I found some examples with them. The meaning of
以上 in my textbook is "or more" and they put an example:

> ３０度 **以上** の日 = A day of 30 degrees **or more**.

Then I was searching for more examples on the internet and I get confused a
little when I found this:

>   * この建物は築100年以上たっている
>

They translated it as "This building was built more than 100 years back " so
my questions are:

1) 建てる is a group 2 verb so the て形 wouldn't it be 建てている?

2) Why 建てる is in the progressive form? shouldn't it be in past 建てた?

3) Isn't the meaning of 以上 "or more" or it just means "more"?

Thanks a lot for your time!




  1. The verb used here is not 建てる (transitive) but an intransitive godan verb [経つ](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%B5%8C%E3%81%A4) ("(for time) to pass"), whose te-form is 経って.

  2. This 経っている is ["have passed" rather than "is passing"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3122/5010). 築【ちく】 precedes a number and means "since it was built", "since its completion/opening", etc. So the literal translation of the sentence is "Regarding this building, a hundred years or more have passed since its completion".

  3. In technical/mathematical/legal contexts, 以上 means "～ or more" (`≥`). Practically, you can often translate this as "more than ～" (`>`), especially when the number before it is obviously a rough one. When what's compared is not a number, you can usually use "more than ～" (e.g., 彼以上に美しい).

By the way, 建てる also has an intransitive counterpart,
[建つ](http://jisho.org/word/%E5%BB%BA%E3%81%A4) ("to be built", "to stand").
With this verb and simple past tense, you can say the same thing like so:

> この建物は100年以上前 **に** 建った。  
>  This building was built more than 100 years ago.




  1. The verb used here is not 建てる (transitive) but an intransitive godan verb [経つ](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%B5%8C%E3%81%A4) ("(for time) to pass"), whose te-form is 経って.

  2. This 経っている is ["have passed" rather than "is passing"](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3122/5010). 築【ちく】 precedes a number and means "since it was built", "since its completion/opening", etc. So the literal translation of the sentence is "Regarding this building, a hundred years or more have passed since its completion".

  3. In technical/mathematical/legal contexts, 以上 means "～ or more" (`≥`). Practically, you can often translate this as "more than ～" (`>`), especially when the number before it is obviously a rough one. When what's compared is not a number, you can usually use "more than ～" (e.g., 彼以上に美しい).

By the way, 建てる also has an intransitive counterpart,
[建つ](http://jisho.org/word/%E5%BB%BA%E3%81%A4) ("to be built", "to stand").
With this verb and simple past tense, you can say the same thing like so:

> この建物は100年以上前 **に** 建った。  
>  This building was built more than 100 years ago.

