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Even More Te Aru (But Were Afraid To Ask)

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Sempai
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27 Apr 2018
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Hello!

I have a question that's similar to that discussed in the earlier thread "when to use -te aru instead of -te iru". The answers there are excellent as usual, but I'm still confused about something in my Minna textbook.

As it happened, (coincidentally), I have been reviewing material I'd studied some time ago, but only now have I just noticed the significance of this sentence:

写真は引き出しに閉まってあります。​
This sentence was the 学習項目 of a chapter dedicated to explaining the difference between [intransitive + います] versus [transitive + あります].

Minna keeps the concept very basic for beginners, (and certainly doesn't go into the finer details as does Toritoribe-san below), by explaining that:

[intransitive + います] = "simply indicates that a situation exists"; whereas:​
[transitive + あります] = "indicates that a situation exists because of someone's deliberate action"​

Minna illustrates with these examples:

窓が閉まっています。"The window is shut."​
窓が閉めてあります。"The window has been shut."​

Well and good. But how does 閉写真は引き出しに閉まってあります illustrate this grammatical concept?

Moreover, elsewhere in the chapter, Minna has this "例文":

A: セロテープはどこですか。​
B: あの引き出しに閉まってありますよ。​
Information, please!

Thanks!

Have you already learned that the function of the -te iru form differs depending on the type of verbs? The -te iru form of durative verbs (継続動詞) is an on-going action, i.e., it's the present progressive tense (e.g. 走っている, 食べている), whereas the -te iru form of punctual verbs (瞬間動詞) expresses the present state resulting from the past action (e.g. 結婚している, 死んでいる).

The -te aru from is used to express the present state resulting from the past action of durative verbs. In transitive-intrasitive pair verbs, transitive verbs are mostly durative verbs, and intransitive verbs are mostly punctual verbs, so you can use two different expressions in almost the same meaning.
e.g.
壁に絵が掛かっている (-te iru form of the intransitive verb 掛かる)
壁に絵が掛けてある (-te aru form of the transitive verb 掛ける)

教室に椅子が並んでいる (-te iru form of the intransitive verb 並ぶ)
教室に椅子が並べてある (-te aru form of the transitive verb 並べる)

As for the difference in nuance between these two expressions, the -te aru form of transitive verbs suggests the existence of the agent/doer. (As you can see, the -te aru form is more important for transitive verbs that don't have the intransitive counterpart.)
 
Aren't 閉まって written in hiragana in your textbook, like 写真は引き出しにまってあります and あの引き出しにまってありますよ? Actually, those are the ~てある form of a transitive verb しまう, meaning "to put away/put back/keep", not 閉まる.;)

 
Oh dear...a blunder...🤭
Aren't 閉まって written in hiragana in your textbook, like 写真は引き出しにまってあります and あの引き出しにまってありますよ? Actually, those are the ~てある form of a transitive verb しまう, meaning "to put away/put back/keep", not 閉まる.
You are, of course, absolutely correct! I forgot all about しまう (仕舞う). That was tricky of the Minna people to throw しまう and しまる together in these constructions.

Thank you...I would have been stumbling in the dark but for you.
 
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