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Interpreting きている

Japanese Language Asked by madgadget on October 25, 2021

My question is how to understand きている when used after verbs like 入る etc. For example:

太陽の光が中に入ってきているのでとても明るい空間になっていて

How is the きている to be interpreted here? I guess in my head the question stems down to how this is meant to be parsed. Does it mean:

  • The sun’s light has come inside and remains inside
  • The sun’s light is coming inside (present tense)

Part of my question stems from the fact that 入る to me is more of an instantaneous (not sure what the term is) verb rather than something that has duration.

One Answer

入る is a punctual (instant state-change) verb when the subject is a human or a small object. However, in this context, 入っている is progressive, "light is coming in", because sunlight is not something that can remain in the room.

Likewise, プールに水が入っている can mean both "the pool has been filled with water" and "the pool is being filled with water" depending on the context. Compare it with 箱にボールが入っている, which usually only means "there is a ball in the box".

(て)くる has several roles, but here it is just for describing the physical direction (light is coming toward the observer). This くる has nothing to do with the aspect.

Answered by naruto on October 25, 2021

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