いる

Japanese

Etymology 1

Alternative spelling
居る (uncommon)

/wiru/ → /iru/

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *wu. Found in the Nihon Shoki, completed around 720 CE. False cognate of Tamil இரு (iru).

Pronunciation

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

• Tokyo pitch accent of conjugated forms of 居る

Plain	居る	いる	[ìrú]
Conjunctive	居て	いて	[ìté]
Perfective	居た	いた	[ìtá]
Negative	居ない	いない	[ìnáí]
Negative perfective	居なかった	いなかった	[ìnáꜜkàttà]
Hypothetical conditional	居れば	いれば	[ìréꜜbà]
Past conditional	居たら	いたら	[ìtáꜜrà]
Imperative	居ろ 居よ	いろ いよ	[ìró] [íꜜyò]
Volitional	居よう	いよー	[ìyóꜜò]
Desiderative	居たい	いたい	[ìtáí]
Formal	居ます	います	[ìmáꜜsù]
Formal negative	居ません	いません	[ìmáséꜜǹ]
Formal volitional	居ましょう	いましょー	[ìmáshóꜜò]
Formal perfective	居ました	いました	[ìmáꜜshìtà]
Continuative	居 居に	い いに	[ì] [ì ní]
Negative continuative	居ず 居ずに	いず いずに	[ìzú] [ìzú ní]
Passive	居られる	いられる	[ìrárérú]
Causative	居させる 居さす	いさせる いさす	[ìsásérú] [ìsású]
Potential	居られる 居れる	いられる いれる	[ìrárérú] [ìrérú]

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. (auxiliary) [with (verb in ren'yōkei +) て (te)]
   1. used to express the progressive aspect; 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!?”)

      子(こ)供(ども)が遊(あそ)んでいる。

      Kodomo ga asonde iru.

      The children are playing.

   2. used to express a regular, repeated 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?

   3. used to express 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.

      何(なに)もしてねーって。

      Nani mo shite nē tte.

      I'm telling you, I haven't done anything.

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.

Usage notes

• The ren'yōkei of this verb, い (i), cannot be used conjunctively (see 中(ちゅう)止(し)法(ほう) (chūshihō, “conjunctive usage”)); instead おり (ori) (from おる (oru)) is preferred. Put another way, the 中(ちゅう)止(し)形(けい) (chūshikei, “conjunctive usage form”) of いる (iru) is おり (ori). The negatives いなく (inaku) and いず (izu) are likewise avoided and おらず (orazu) preferred.
• (sense 3): Colloquially the initial い (i) is often omitted, resulting in forms such as

  〜ている (~te iru) → 〜てる (~te ru);

  〜ています (~te imasu) → 〜てます (~te masu);

  〜ていない (~te inai) → 〜てない (~te nai);

  etc.

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 or ren'yōkei conjunctive) 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 be needed

【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 spellings 納る, 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 do not have a page created for them yet: 沃る, 將る.)