てある
- 1Something is in a certain state because someone intentionally did an action to it.Ex. 1
- 2Something has been placed or arranged somewhere on purpose and remains that way.Ex. 2
Particle: the affected thing is usually marked with が (or は) rather than を（開ける → 窓が開けてある; 置く → 本が置いてある）
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Used in both speech and writing to describe how things have been left or arranged, such as open windows or items placed on a table. The focus is on the resulting situation, with the implication that someone made it that way intentionally. Compare 窓が開いている (intransitive + ている, a plain state with no agent implied) with 窓が開けてある (someone opened it on purpose).
Do not use てある with intransitive verbs; 窓が開いてある is incorrect, while 窓が開いている or 窓が開けてある is correct.
Note that the affected thing is usually marked with が, not を, so 窓が開けてある is the standard form.
Learners sometimes use 窓を開けている for a resulting state, but it usually means someone is in the act of opening the window.
- ているN5「ている」 can also express an action in progress or habitual repetition, and it overlaps with 「てある」 only in the resulting-state sense: 「窓が開いている」 objectively describes a state, while 「窓が開けてある」 implies someone deliberately opened it.
- ておく / とくN4「ておく」 focuses on the action itself—preparing, maintaining a state, or handling something for now—with the object marked by 「を」, and it contracts to 「とく」 in speech; 「てある」 describes the state left after something has been done, usually with 「が」, and the two generally cannot be swapped directly.
- たところN4「たところ」 attaches to a verb's た form: 「たところだ」 marks the point right after an action is completed, and 「たところ、…」 expresses what one discovered after doing something; 「てある」 attaches only to the て form of transitive verbs and describes a deliberately left result, so the two cannot be interchanged.
- てしまう / ちゃうN4「てしまう」 expresses an action being completed or a result being irreversible, carrying nuances such as relief or regret, and it attaches to both transitive and intransitive verbs; 「てある」 attaches only to transitive verbs and describes the state left after someone deliberately acts, with no such emotional coloring. They cannot be interchanged.
- たばかりN4「たばかり」 emphasizes that not much time has passed since an action was completed or a new state began, attaching to the た form of both transitive and intransitive verbs; 「てある」 attaches only to transitive verbs and emphasizes that the result of someone's intentional action still remains, without reference to elapsed time. The two cannot be interchanged.
Unlike ている, which describes an ongoing action or, with intransitive verbs, a state without implying an agent, てある presents a state as the intended result of someone's action. ておく focuses on doing something in advance, whereas てある describes the resulting state. たところ and たばかり stress that an action was just completed, and てしまう stresses completion or regret; none of these focuses on a deliberately created state.
