Meaning of, Transitive verb in "te form" + iru vs Intransitive verb in "te form" + iru


When I learnt Japanese I was taught that a transitive verb in its "te form"
followed by the verb "iru" represents a continuous action. However, this is
not the case with intransitive verbs which instead represent a state when used
this way;

Therefore 開けている means that a subject is opening the door, the action of
opening is taking place and perhaps the subject has its hand on the handle of
the door and is pulling it. However, 開いている means that the door is open rather
than an action in which the door seems to be "automatically" opening.

This creates a confusion in my mind for example, 死んでいる means dead rather than
a thing in the process of dying but not yet dead.

Why does the meaning differ so much for the two type of verbs? So, how does
one represent continuous actions when using intransitive verbs?

Also, using ところ with a verb, one can present an action which is taking place
"this instant". Does the transitive verb in "te form" not do this already?




I guess we cannot directly translate English into Japanese and vice-versa. I
think that is a common mistake made by a lot of English speakers. You have to
think in Japanese instead. Let me use some of your examples and provide some
examples:

  1. ドアを開けている。
  2. ドアが開いている。
  3. 犬が死んでいる。
  4. 飛行機が飛んでいる。
  5. 彼が笑っている。

As a general guide, the thinking process for te-iru forms is "being in the
state". For 1, it is very direct. Transitive verbs in the te-iru form can be
directly translated into V-ing. Hence, I am opening the door. You can think of
it as, "I am in the state of opening the door."

For 2, similarly, think of it as being in the state. So you will get, the door
is opened, it is in the opened state. The next question is, how to express
"the door is opening (by itself)?" That would be just, 「ドアが開く」. Remember, do
not think in English. If you think in English, you will be confused. 「開く」just
means open, the act of opening. Hence, naturally「ドアが開く」can be processed as
"the door opens". However, it also means "the door is opening"! You should
know by now that Japanese depends heavily on context. So, let's put this into
context.

The elevator just arrived. ドアが今開く。 The elevator's doors open now/are opening
now.

If you really want to express the continuous form, to emphasize on the
continual action, then you could also say ドアが開いているところです。

Let's move on for more examples.

For 3, similarly, thinking of the state, the dog is in the state of being
dead. For 4, it is translated as the plane is flying... now why is a "V-ing"
used here? It is because flying is the state of being in flight! Hence, it
makes perfect sense!

And lastly for 5, "He is laughing"; he is in the state of laughter.

Allow me to emphasize the point of being in context again. For example,
「私が怖い」can mean "I am a scary person" or "I am afraid". 「猫が怖い」can mean "I am
scared of cats (私は)" or "Cats are scary". So Japanese language is actually
very ambiguous and depend heavily on context. Take some time to ponder over it
and you will eventually get it!

