A sentence's meaning


About the sentence

> 北海道では雪が降っています。

Does it mean:

  1. It is snowing in Hokkaido, or
  2. It is still going to be snowing in Hokkaido?




Only 1 is a correct translation.

I can't speak to the Chinese sentence at all, but translation 2 sounds like a
slightly unnatural translation of:

> 北海道では雪が降っていく。

Which means "In Hokkaido the snow will continue." (The ていく construction
indicates that the action is occurring now and is expected to continue into
the future.)

Note that the presence of the は particle gives the sentence a contrastive
feel, like you've just said or are about to say that it's not snowing in
Tōhoku, for example.




Only 1 is a correct translation.

I can't speak to the Chinese sentence at all, but translation 2 sounds like a
slightly unnatural translation of:

> 北海道では雪が降っていく。

Which means "In Hokkaido the snow will continue." (The ていく construction
indicates that the action is occurring now and is expected to continue into
the future.)

Note that the presence of the は particle gives the sentence a contrastive
feel, like you've just said or are about to say that it's not snowing in
Tōhoku, for example.

