We have learned some passive sentences in which “who makes the action” is not important in the exercise A4 and A5. Today’s sentences in the exercise A6 are also this kind of passive sentences in terms of not-mentioning the actor. The difference from A4 and A5 is that a verb in passive form has become “-te iru”. We have already learned that when the action is currently ongoing, continuously keeping done, and is repeated frequently, the verb predicate is not simply “V-masu.” but becomes “V-te imasu”. Therefore, the sentences in A6 can be regarded as an application of “V-te iru” to the passive sentences.
1. Nihon no Roketto wa Tanegashima de Uchiagerarete imasu.
(Rockets of Japan have been launched in Tanegashima Island.)
“Tanegashima” is a place name; it is located south of Kagoshima. The island is famous as the launching place of the rockets. If we don’t use “V-te iru”, the sentence would be as follows;
2. Nihon no Roketto wa Tanegashima de Uchiageraremasu.
The sentence 2 is not wrong, but it makes us wonder whether the launching is one-time event or repetitive events. Or, some may think that the launching happens in near future, without knowing Japan has already launched many numbers of rockets from that Island.
Using “V-te imasu”, the sentence can express that not one but many rockets have been launched from the island.
To change a verb in passive form to be an additional Te-form is not a big issue. The Nai-form of the passive form “Uchiagerareru/Uchiageraremasu” is “Uchiagerar<e>nai”. Therefore, it can be a kind of Group 2 verbs. Simply put “te” to the stem as making a Group2 verb Te-form. No difficult procedure is needed like Group1 verbs.
3. Kono Ude-dokei wa Ano Koujou de Tsukurarete imasu.
(This wristwatch is being made in that factory.)
Something is being made in a factory. It is usually continuous and/or repetitive action, probably not one-time event in the future. The passive form of the verb “Tsukuru/Tsukurimasu” is “Tsukurareru/Tsukuraremasu”. And then it can be Te-form that is “Tsukurarete”. If we convert the sentence 3 to an active sentence, we would get a sentence as shown below;
4. Ano Koujou wa Kono Ude-dokei o Tsukutte imasu.
(That factory is making this wristwatch.)
Those who thinks “wa-ga construction” is versatile may say “(WRONG)Kono Koujou wa Kono Ude-dokei ga Tsukutte imasu.” This is terribly wrong. An object of a transitive verb must use the particle “-o” as the object marker. In this case, it is “Udedokei o Tsukuru”. In some situation of Japanese learning, both teachers and learners try to avoid using the particle “-o”. Such people tend to use “wa-ga construction” quite often because “wa-ga construction” doesn’t use the particle “-o”. And sometimes they find another way to avoid “-o”, which is to make a passive sentence like 3. You see that there is no particle “-o” in the sentence 3 even though the sentence uses transitive verb “Tsukuru/Tsukurimasu”. Of course, the sentence 3 and 4 are not the same. The subject of 3 is ”Kono Ude-dokei wa”, and that of 4 is “Ano Koujou wa”. So, the emphases are different between 3 and 4. Although today’s sentence construction doesn’t use the particle “-o”, but it is necessary to accept that it is fundamental that an object of a transitive verb needs to be followed by the particle “-o”.
The main theme of today’s post is the combination of the passive voice and “V-te iru”.
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This post was written with reference to the exercise A6 on Section37 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”
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