Japanese Verbs on Progress Action,
Habitual Action and Occupation

In this lesson you will get to learn an important topic in Japanese verbs, which is て-form + います (te-form + imasu).て-form + います (te-form + imasu) is widely used in many Japanese sentences.
And because it has many functions many people get confused on its applications.
Most of the time you have to read from the actual sentence to understand the context and what does it means.
I will introduce 3 of them in this lesson:

1. Progress Action or Motion (~ing)
2. Habitual Action
3. One's Occupation

1. Progress Action or Motion (~ing)

You have already learned that past tense in Japanese verbs is used for events in the past which has already finished. For example...

• わたしはゆうべテレビをみました。
  watashi wa yuube terebi wo mimashita
  
  Meaning: I watched TV last night.

The above sentence means the speaker has already finished watching TV, which occurred on last night. Now let's look at this sentence in present tense...

• わたしはこんばんテレビをみます。
  watashi wa konban terebi wo mimasu
  
  Meaning: I am going to watch TV tonight.

From the above sentence, you can see that present tense is also used for future event in Japanese, as there is no future tense in Japanese verbs.
So how do you going to describe the action that you are doing now? Yes, I think you should have known by now. Use て-form + います (te-form + imasu).

• わたしはいまテレビをみています。
  watashi wa ima terebi wo mite imasu
  
  Meaning: I am watching TV now.

In the above example, the speaker has started to watch TV in the past, is watching now, and is continuing to watch to the future. It's like adding the "ing" to the verb. The speaker is in the middle of the action of watching TV, as shown in the following diagram.

Let's make some sentences using te-form + imasu to show the action in progress in Japanese verbs...

• Question: いまなにをしていますか。
  ima nani wo shite imasu ka
  
  Meaning: What are you doing now?
• Answer: いまいぬとさんぽしています。
  ima inu to sanpo shite imasu
  
  Meaning: I am strolling with my dog now.
• Answer: いまほんをよんでいます。
  ima hon wo yonde imasu
  
  Meaning: I am reading a book now.
• Answer: いまえをかいています。
  ima e wo kaite imasu
  
  Meaning: I am drawing a picture now.

2. Habitual Action in Japanese Verbs

Habitual action is used to describe the same action which is repeatedly performed over a period of time. And the action is still continuing.
The Japanese verb sentences which associated with habitual action always include words like まいあさ (maiasa - every morning), まいばん (maiban - every night), まいにち (mainichi - everyday), いつも (itsumo - always), etc. For example,

• わたしは まいにち にほんごをべんきょうしています。
  watashi wa mainichi nihongo wo benkyoushite imasu
  
  Meaning: I am studying Japanese every day.

The presence of the words まいにち (mainichi - everyday) indicates this is a habitual action. However if you are saying the following instead...

• わたしは いま にほんごをべんきょうしています。
  watashi wa ima nihongo wo benkyoushite imasu
  
  Meaning: I am studying Japanese now.

The word いま (ima) indicates this is a action in progress, not habitual action.

3. One's Occupation

One of the functions of te-form + imasu is to describe one's occupation. You can use any of the following when you want to talk about somebody's occupation...

Profession を しています - (I am Profession)
Place で はたらいています - (work at/in)
Place(Company's name) に つとめています - (work for)

In "Profession を しています", you can replace "Profession" with the type of occupation you want to talk about. You use this Japanese verb sentence structure to describe somebody is working as some profession. For example...

• たなかさんはいしゃをしています。
  tanaka san wa isha wo shite imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Tanaka is working as a doctor.
• やまださんはせんせいをしています。
  yamada san wa sensei wo shite imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Yamada is working as a teacher.
• きむらさんはけいさつかんをしています。
  kimura san wa keisatsukan wo shite imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Kimura is working as a Policeman.

In "Place で はたらいています", you are talking about the place where somebody is working. The "Place" here can be the country, the work place or the actual company name. Take note that the particle here is で (de).

• たなかさんはびょういん で はたらいています。
  tanaka san wa byouin de hataraite imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Tanaka is working at the hospital.
• やまださんは ABC がっこう で はたらいています。
  yamada san wa ABC gakkou de hataraite imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Yamada is working at ABC school.
• きむらさんはアメリカ で はたらいています。
  kimura san wa amerika de hataraite imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Yamada is working in America.

In "Place(Company's name) に つとめています", you are giving the actual company's name where somebody is working for. In this case, the particle used here is に (ni).

• たなかさんは XYZ びょういん に つとめています。
  tanaka san wa XYZ byouin ni tsutomete imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Tanaka is working for XYZ hospital.
• いとうさんは Citibank に つとめています。
  itou san wa Citibank ni tsutomete imasu
  
  Meaning: Ms Itou is working for Citibank.
• さとうさんは Toyota に つとめています。
  satou san wa Toyota ni tsutomete imasu
  
  Meaning: Mr Satou is working for Toyota.

In summary, these are the 3 basic functions for て-form + います (te-form + imasu) in Japanese verbs.
There are 2 Japanese verbs, いる (iru) and ある (aru), which cannot have te-form + imasu. Therefore there is no いています (ite imasu) and あっています (atte imasu).