いる

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Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spelling
居る

/wiru/ → /iru/

From Old Japanese. Found in the Nihon Shoki, completed around 720 CE.[1] from Proto-Japonic *wu.

Pronunciation

  • Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「居る」
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形)
Attributive (連体形) 		居る いる
Imperative (命令形) 居ろ いろ
Key constructions
Passive 居られる いられる
Causative 居させる いさせる
Potential 居られる いられる
Volitional 居よう いよー
Negative 居ない いない
Negative perfective 居なかった いなかった
Formal 居ます います
Perfective 居た いた
Conjunctive 居て いて
Hypothetical conditional 居れば いれば

Verb

いる • (iru) ←ゐる (wiru)?intransitive ichidan (stem い (i), past いた (ita))

  2. (of animate objects) to exist, to be
    鈴(すず)木(き)ですが、田(た)中(なか)さんいますか？
    Suzuki desu ga, Tanaka-san imasu ka?
    This is Suzuki calling; may I speak to Tanaka?
    (literally, “ is Suzuki; is Tanaka present?”)
    あなたがいないと何(なに)もできない
    anata ga inai to nani mo dekinai
    I can't do anything if you aren't here/there
    君(きみ)がいた夏(なつ)
    kimi ga ita natsu
    the summer you were there
    君(きみ)といた夏(なつ)
    kimi to ita natsu
    the summer was with you
  3. (of animate objects) to have
    彼(かれ)氏(し)いますか？
    Kareshi imasu ka?
    Do you have a boyfriend?
  4. Used as a 補助動詞 (hojo dōshi), after a verb in the て (-te) conjunctive form. Note that ている (-te iru) colloquially shortens to てる (-teru), ていた (-te ita) colloquially shortens to てた (-teta), etc.
    1. Indicates a progressive or continuative tense: to be doing
      朝(あさ)ご飯(はん)を食(た)べていますか？
      Asagohan o tabete imasu ka?
      Are you eating breakfast ?
      黙(だま)っていられるもんか！
      Damatte irareru mon ka!
      Like hell this is something I can silently let pass!
      (literally, “Is this something that I can be quiet about!?”)
      何(なに)もしてねーって。
      Nani mo shitenē tte.
      I'm telling you, I haven't done anything.
      子(こ)供(ども)が遊(あそ)んでいる。
      Kodomo ga asonde iru.
      The children are playing.
    2. Indicates a regular, repetitive action.
      朝(あさ)ご飯(はん)を食(た)べていますか？
      Asagohan o tabete imasu ka?
      Are you eating breakfast these days?
      This is equivalent to using the simple non-past form of verbs (e.g. 食べますか (tabemasu ka) = 食べていますか (tabete imasu ka)).
    3. Indicates a state resulting from the action.
      壁(かべ)には絵(え)がかかっている。
      Kabe ni wa e ga kakatte iru.
      There is a picture hanging on the wall.
      豚(ぶた)が肥(こ)えている。
      Buta ga koete iru.
      The pig is fat.
  5. (obsolete) to sit
    • c. late 9th–mid-10th century, Taketori Monogatari
      それを見(み)れば、三(さん)寸(すん)ばかりなる人(ひと)いと美(うつく)しうて居(ゐ)たり。
      Sore wo mireba, sansun bakari naru fito ito utukusiute witari (Classical pronunciation)
      Sore o mireba, sansun bakari naru hito ito utsukushūte itari. (modern pronunciation)
      When he looked at it, there sat a very lovely human being about three sun long.
Conjugation
Conjugation of "いる" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective") い i
Ren’yōkei ("continuative") い i
Shūshikei ("terminal") いる iru
Rentaikei ("attributive") いる iru
Kateikei ("hypothetical") いれ ire
Meireikei ("imperative") いよ¹
いろ² 		iyo¹
iro²
Key constructions
Passive いられる irareru
Causative いさせる
いさす 		isaseru
isasu
Potential いられる
いれる³ 		irareru
ireru³
Volitional いよう iyō
Negative いない
いぬ
いん 		inai
inu
in
Negative continuative いず izu
Formal います imasu
Perfective いた ita
Conjunctive いて ite
Hypothetical conditional いれば ireba
¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative
³ Colloquial potential
Classical conjugation of "ゐる" (ワ行上一段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)
Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形) ゐ wi
Continuative (連用形) ゐ wi
Terminal (終止形) ゐる wiru
Attributive (連体形) ゐる wiru
Realis (已然形) ゐれ wire
Imperative (命令形) ゐよ wiyo
Key constructions
Negative ゐず wizu
Contrasting conjunction ゐれど wiredo
Causal conjunction ゐれば wireba
Conditional conjunction ゐば wiba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge) ゐき wiki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge) ゐけり wikeri
Perfect tense (conscious action) ゐつ witu
Perfect tense (natural event) ゐぬ winu
Perfect-continuative tense ゐたり witari
Volitional ゐむ wimu

Synonyms
  • (dialectal) おる (oru)
  • ある (aru, “of inanimate objects: to be”)

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of いる – see the following entries.
【要る】
to be necessary, to need
【煎る】
fry, broil
Alternative spellings
炒る, 熬る
【入る】
to go in; to come in
要る: to be necessary, to be required
to put something into something else
Alternative spelling
要る
【鋳る】
cast, mint
【射る】
shoot
(rare) shoot
【率る】
To take along with
Alternative spelling
将る
(This term, いる (iru), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.)
For a list of all kanji read as いる, see Category:Japanese kanji read as いる.)

(The following entries are uncreated: 沃る, 將る.)

References

  1. ^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. ^ Uwano, Zendo (2002 October 31) “見島方言の用言のアクセント調査報告 [A Report on the Accentual Surveys of Verbs and Adjectives in the Mishima Dialect]”, in 環太平洋の「消滅に瀕した言語」にかんする緊急調査研究 [Endangered languages of the Pacific Rim]‎, →ISSN, archived from the original on 25 September 2022
  3. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  4. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
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