Grammar › Time › 〜てある
〜てある
A state that's there because someone put it there. It's written, it's set out, it's ready — with a quiet hint that a person did it on purpose.
The short version
Take a transitive verb (one that takes を), put it in the て-form, and add ある. The result describes the state left behind by a deliberate action — and the thing acted on takes が. 書いてある = "(something) is written (there)".
書く → 書いてある — it's written (someone wrote it)
置く → 置いてある — it's been set out
A state someone set up
Use it when you notice something arranged, prepared, or left in place — the focus is the result, not who did it, but a human hand is implied.
こう、いろんなものが置いてあるんですよ。
All sorts of things are set out (there). (placed, and left that way)
あれって塩が表面にまぶしてある。
That has salt sprinkled over the surface. (done on purpose, still there)
書いてあるじゃん。
It's written (right) there, see? (the writing is there for a reason)
Watch out — てある vs ている
てある implies a person; ている just reports. With a transitive verb, 窓が開けてある = "the window has been opened (and left open by someone, on purpose)". The intransitive 窓が開いている = "the window is open" — a plain observation, no agent. See 〜ている.
| Form | Verb type | Nuance |
|---|---|---|
| 開けてある | transitive + てある | opened on purpose, left that way |
| 開いている | intransitive + ている | just "is open", no agent |
🗣 The object takes が, not を. The verb is transitive, but in 〜てある the thing acted on becomes the subject: 紙が貼ってある ("a paper is posted up"), not 紙を貼ってある.
Next: 〜ている — is doing → · とき — when → · All grammar
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