"太ってる猫" vs "太った猫"


I saw this sentence and its translation in a textbook

> 彼女は太った猫が好きじゃない。  
>  She doesn't like fat cats

I was under the impression that 「太ってる猫」 means something like “cat that is in
the state of becoming fat”, which basically means “fat”, so I was wondering:

What's the difference between 「太ってる猫」 and 「太った猫」?

* * *

If a cat has been fat since birth, is it true that in this situation then, we
can only use 「太っている猫」 and not 「太った猫」 since the cat was already fat _right from
the start_ and did not “get fat”?




`〜ている` can indicate a completed-action state, not just in-progress actions.

>   * 結婚している → is (currently) married
>   * 開いているお店 → a store that is open
>   * 太っている → is fat
>

To disambiguate these states from in-progress, you can use `〜つつある` for
"happening right now". I've mentioned this in another thread, but don't
remember which one at the momemt (will update later if I find it).

>   * 店が開きつつあります → The store is opening right now (you can see the metal
> shutters going up, etc.)
>

But back to the original question, both `〜ている` and `〜た` can be used for
descriptions. It just may seem a little strange to an English speaker at
first.

>   * ワイシャツを **着ている** 人 → A person wearing (in-progress) a white-collar shirt.
>   * ワイシャツを **着た** 人 → A person who "wore"/put-on (and still has on) a white-
> collar shirt.  
>  
>
>   * **太っている** 猫 → A cat who is currently fat.
>   * **太った** 猫 → A cat who got/become (and still is) fat.
>

AFAIK, the two are pretty interchangeable for descriptions. I'm not sure if
either has any limitations of the other. And as I said, it may seem strange at
first, but eventually it will become second-nature.




In relative clauses, past tense can be neutralized. There is no clear
difference in meaning between `太っている猫` and `太った猫`.

To express that the cat was fat in the past, you say `太っていた猫`. The reason you
cannot say `太い猫` is because the i-adjective `太い` means 'bold', and does not
mean '(become) fat' as the verb `太る` does. And if you say `太る猫`, it means 'a
cat that will become fat', not 'a cat that is fat'.

If you say `あの人は太い`, it does not directly mean 'that person is fat', but means
'that person is thick', which can be mentioning the arms, the male genital, or
whatever. However, it can be taken as a euphemism of 'that person is fat'.

The nuance of the euphemism is comparable to the English expression 'that
person is horizontally scaled'. It does not exactly mean 'fat'.

