Page 363 - Basic Japanese

The GERUND + the VERB iru ‘stays, exists’ means somebody or

something is DOING SOMETHING: hataraite imasu ‘he’s
working.’ If the verb is INTRANSITIVE, the meaning may be

‘something is in a state as a result of doing or becoming
something’:

晴れています。 It’s cleared up.
Harete

imasu.

疲れています。 I’m tired.
Tsukarete

imasu.

By contrast, the gerund of a TRANSITIVE verb is used
before forms of the verb aru ‘exists’ to mean something is in

a state resulting from someone’s action on it, in a condition
affected by someone’s action:

手紙は書いてあります。

Tegami wa kaite arimasu.

The letter is written.

It may help to think of the literal meaning of such a

sentence as something like ‘as for the letter, somebody
writes and—it exists (in the resulting state)’ or ‘as for the

letter, it exists—how?—in a manner such that somebody has
written.’ Here are some examples of transitive verbs used in