いる

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) いる [ìrú] (Heiban – [0])^[2][3]
• (Mishima) いる [íꜜrù] (Atamadaka – [1])^[4]
• IPA^(key): [iɾɯ̟]

Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Terminal (終止形) Attributive (連体形)	居る	いる	[ìrú]
Imperative (命令形)	居ろ	いろ	[ìró]
Key constructions
Passive	居られる	いられる	[ìrárérú]
Causative	居させる	いさせる	[ìsásérú]
Potential	居られる	いられる	[ìrárérú]
Volitional	居よう	いよー	[ìyóꜜò]
Negative	居ない	いない	[ìnáí]
Negative perfective	居なかった	いなかった	[ìnáꜜkàttà]
Formal	居ます	います	[ìmáꜜsù]
Perfective	居た	いた	[ìtá]
Conjunctive	居て	いて	[ìté]
Hypothetical conditional	居れば	いれば	[ìréꜜbà]

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 「居る」

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, “[This] 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 [with me; by my side]

   君(きみ)といた夏(なつ)

   kimi to ita natsu

   the summer [I] 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?

5. 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 [now]?

      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.

6. (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

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

Conjugation of "いる" (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

Classical conjugation of "ゐる" (ワ行上一段活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

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】 [verb] to be necessary, to need

【煎る】 [verb] fry, broil Alternative spellings 炒る, 熬る

【入る】 [verb] [from 759] to go in; to come in [verb] [from 900s] 要る: to be necessary, to be required [verb] to put something into something else Alternative spelling 要る

【鋳る】 [verb] cast, mint

【射る】 [verb] shoot [verb] (rare) shoot

【率る】 [verb] (archaic) 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. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
3. 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
4. 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