Guide To Learn Japanese

More useful Japanese grammars in today’s post! Sometimes you just want to tell someone what you are doing in a particular time action. For example like “I’m in the middle of eating” or “I just finished eating” or “I’m about to eat”. Knowing this Japanese grammar allow you to inform people exactly what you are currently doing. Let’s get to the examples!

食べる　ところ - about to eat

So you can combine a verb that is the plain form, the -teiru ている form or the -ta た form with tokoro ところ to show exactly what you are doing currently.

食べている　ところ - in the middle of eating

We know that 食べる means “to eat” or “will eat” and of course its not in the past tense yet, so when you add ところ after it, you are going to tell the listener that you are about to eat.

And for 食べている which means “eating”, a continuous action, when added with ところ to show that you are in the “middle of eating”.

食べた　ところ - just ate (literally just finished eating)

Finally, 食べた is in the past tense form which means “ate”. So when you add ところ behind, you are telling the listener that you “just finished eating” or “just ate”. A small conversation example below.

Mother:　ひるごはん　もう　たべた？ - Have you already had your lunch?

Son: 今、食べている　ところ だよ - I’m in the middle of eating.

What about combining ところ with other verbs? Of course you can do the same thing. Lets look at some of the common verbs that you will probably use in your everyday life.

のむ ところ about to drink	よむ　ところ about to read	かく　ところ about to write
のんでいる　ところ in the middle of drinking	よんでいる ところ in the middle of reading	かいている ところ in the middle of writing
のんだ　ところ just drank	よんだ　ところ just read	かいた　ところ just wrote

You may be able to add ところ to almost any verb. But not all verbs will make sense, for example

すむ、住む which means “to live”. If you add ところ after it, it won’t make sense. I’m sure you don’t say “I’m about to live here” or “I’m in the middle of living here” or “I just finished living here”.

Most will prefer to say “I will live here” - ここ　に　すむ

or

“I’m living here”　- ここ　に　すんでいる

“Some time ago, I lived here” -　いぜん　ここ　に　すんだ

Words to learn

ここ - here

いぜん - some time ago

So using すむ with ところ does not really make sense. Can you think of other verbs that does not make sense adding ところ after it?

Enjoy learning Japanese!

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Filed under: Intermediate Guide |