I have asked one or two questions about -ておる for -ている before, and I have a few notes, but now I feel a bit confused. In the book I'm reading, one character who uses -ておる is supposed to be a coarse and uneducated rural type, I suppose in his thirties or forties, and another character who uses -ておる is a refined and educated headmaster, an old man. I have a note somewhere that -ておる is dialect, and another nore that it is old person's speech. These would fit the respective characters, but are they different types of use? Or is there essentially only one type of use of -ておる?
-ておる
- Thread starter eeky
- Start date
- 22 Feb 2008
- 18,266
- 4,926
The etymology is the same. Old Japanese remains in rural or old people's speech. ～ておる is often contracted (e.g. ～とる, ～ちょる) in dialects. Unlike Hagrid, Dumbledore never says いねえとは言っちょらん. He would say いないとは言ってはおらぬ instead. (Note that old people actually usually don't use those kind of speeches in real conversations nowadays. It's more likely used to indicate who the speaker is or to show what the characteristics of the speaker is in novels, dramas or movies, as same as women's speech such like ～だわ or ～なのよ.)
