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I've always interpreted the plain/present affirmative of a verb (e.g. 行く/行きます）　as either

A.) an action that I will do in the future 図書館に行きます "I will go to the library"

B.) an action that I habitually do. よくテレビを見る "I often watch T.V."

～ている　conjugations can for a variety of verbs translate as having an enduring state or state which is a result of change

Example

  • 僕の友達はヨーロッパに行っている　→　"My friend is gone to Europe"
  • ドアが開いている　→　"The door is open"
  • 僕は結婚してる　→　"I'm married"

For verbs of this nature which do not have an "action in progress" interpretation from the ~ている conjugation, is it possible to interpret the plain/present affirmative of a verb as an action in progress/event currently taking place as well?

Examples

  • 今僕の友達はヨーロッパに行く　→　"My friend is going to Europe now" (As in an action in progress, he's on the plane on his way there)
  • ドアが開く　→　"The door is opening" (Door is actively in the process of opening)
  • 僕は結婚します　→　"I'm　getting married" (In the process of completing wedding arrangements and so on)

Are these interpretations correct? If not is there some other method in order to express those type of sentences? Any insight or clarifications would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

chocolate
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mattb
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2 Answers2

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The answer is basically no. You can express any progressive actions with (adverbal form) + つつある, which was created to translate exactly English progressive forms, though it's not frequently used in everyday conversation.

Speaking how to translate the examples you suggested to common expressions,

  1. "My friend is going to Europe now"：私の友達は今ヨーロッパへ向かっている
  2. "The door is opening"：ドアが開くところだ / ドアが開く (= The door is about to open)

If you find #2 inaccurate (though it depends how you define "open", fully or partially), you can still use 開いている for that usage (and 行っている for #1), or 開いていっている. As for "I'm getting married", I'm not sure if it's an natural expression to begin with. So, I'd suggest 結婚しつつある.

user4092
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is it possible to interpret the plain/present affirmative of a verb as an action in progress/event currently taking place as well?

Not really. There are several different patterns you can use depending on the situation. In general, you can use the pattern 〜つつある for something that is currently in progress.

  • ドアが開いている　→　The door is open (in an open state).
  • ドアが開きつつあります　→　The door is opening (right now; I can see it happening)

  • ×　今僕の友達はヨーロッパに行く　→　"My friend is going to Europe now" (As in an action in progress, he's on the plane on his way there)
  • ○　今僕の友達はヨーロッパに行きつつある　→　"My friend is going to Europe now" (As in an action in progress, he's on the plane on his way there)

  • ×　僕は結婚します　→　"I'm getting married" (In the process of completing wedding arrangements and so on)
  • ?　僕は結婚しつつある　→　"I'm in the middle of getting married"　→　I guess if you got a phone call during the middle of your wedding and you answered it, you might say this, but this does not translate to what you want.

For motion verbs, you can also use 辞書形＋[途中]{と・ちゅう} to indicate "on the way" (and sounds better to my ear than 〜つつある, but that might just be me).

  • ○　今僕の友達はヨーロッパに行く途中です。　→　"My friend is going to Europe now" (As in an action in progress, he's on the plane on his way there)

Finally, to indicate that something is starting right now (i.e., has just begun and is in progress), you can use 〜ているところ. However, I believe that emphasis is on the fact that it has just (somewhat recently) begun compared to 〜つつある.

  • 試合のため、スタジアムを開場しているところだ　→　They're just starting to open the (doors of the) stadium for the game.

As far as your sentence about preparing for a wedding, I don't think even "I'm getting married" in English affords those semantics. Maybe in a very particular context. Anyway, you'd need to specify that you're doing the preparations with something like

  • 結婚式の準備をしています

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chocolate
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