# -고 있다 /동사+있다



## Hyperpolyglot

There's this program that I am learning Korean with, it teaches me verbs like "to sit, to stand, to eat, etc."
It says 앉아있다 as to sit but I can't find this form in the dictionary, all I can find was 앉다
As for "to stand", it gives me 서있다, again, I can't find it in the dictionary, but I find 서다 for "to stand".
As for "to eat", it gives me 먹다, which is in the dictionary, I wonder why it didn't say 먹있다?
As for "to drink", it gives me 마시다 which is in the dictionary, again I wonder why it didn't say 마시있다, and why only add 있다 to sit and stand, why don't they just say 앉다 and 서다? seems like they added 있다 to a verb stem, I have a feeling they try to interpret it as "to be sitting/standing", is that the reason?


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## vientito

The same reason you can't find an entry like teaching in english dictionary. It is treated as part of grammatical pattern not a distinct entry worth repeating all over the place. You could do better by consulting from a grammar guide.


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## Gumago

Not 먹있다 but 먹고 있다 is right. Same cases are, 자고 있다, 말하고 있다, 일하고 있다. 공부하고 있다. 먹고 있다. These need -(하)고 있다. And it describes progressive action. However, "서있다. 앉아있다" is correct while 서고 있다 앉고 있다 sound unnatural or mean different. It would describe someone is standing up, or sitting down at the moment of speaking.
서다. 앉다 can be more like stative verbs, meaning that the referring action or state keeps for a while. So 서있다, 앉아있다 would mean someone keeps sitting down or standing up for a period of time.


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## kornglish

.first of all, i'm just studing English now so i hope u'll consider it...

In korean, some word does Not always mean same, I've spoken korean for about 20 years, since when i born so i can sure i'm good at korean.

and as far as i know, '서있다' means 'standing' so, here is a simple example, if u wanna say (I am standing), u can say '나는 서있다.' - this is literary language, in colloquial, it's '나 서있어 (informal. and for ur friends who younger than u)' / 나 서있어요 (for stanger or someone older than you) / 저 서 있습니다. (formal and polite). -

there are few example in English.

- i want to stand up (나는(I) 일어서고 (stand up) 싶다 (want to)) - in literary translation, '나는(I) 일어나기를(to stand) 원한다(want).'

- She wanted him to stand (그녀는 (she) 그가 (him) 일어나기(to stand, and words ~기 are a noun, usually.) 를 원했다 (wanted).


u said those are 'to verb' but i don't know why;; basically, stand is '서다' in Korean. and 'to stand' is '일어서기' -일어서다 and 일어나다 mean same. but 일어나다 has another meaning (happen).


~다 is basic suffix, so every verb are written ~다 in dictionary, stand - 서다/일어서다, eat - 먹다, do - 하다. you don't have to add 'to' or other prepositions.

~아 있다, ~있다 and ~고 있다 are same. they mean continue, or present perfect. so we use them when we say 'A(subject) be doing', like 'I am answering' - 나는 대답해주고/답해주고/답변해주고 있다. (대답해주고, 답해주고, 답변해주고 are same they have a little differences but we don't differentiate them. 대답해주다 means 'give an answer for/against(대) a question, 답해주다 means 'give an answer for a question, and 답변 is more formal and a bit polite.) and 'You are asking' - 너는 물어보고 있다.

앉 + 아 있다 - sitting

서 + 있다 - standing

먹 + 고 있다 - eating

하 + 고 있다 - doing

i don't know how to explain ~ 고 있다. I can't remember another example, so in my opinion, '앉다' > '앉아있다' is an irregular form.

Usually, when we want to say continue, we use ~ 고 있다.

so if you say '서 + 고 있다 or 앉 + 고 있다', korean will be able to understand them, but these are strange.

and to say explain more about 앉다, '앉아 있다' means 'sitting'. and '앉고 있다' means 'being sat'. (and sometimes, it can mean 'im about to sit')

remember that any language can have irregular words.


if there is something you can't understand because of my weird English, please leave a comment and let me know it, i'll try to fix them.


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## CharlesLee

Hyperpolyglot said:


> There's this program that I am learning Korean with, it teaches me verbs like "to sit, to stand, to eat, etc."
> It says 앉아있다 as to sit but I can't find this form in the dictionary, all I can find was 앉다
> As for "to stand", it gives me 서있다, again, I can't find it in the dictionary, but I find 서다 for "to stand".
> As for "to eat", it gives me 먹다, which is in the dictionary, I wonder why it didn't say 먹있다?
> As for "to drink", it gives me 마시다 which is in the dictionary, again I wonder why it didn't say 마시있다, and why only add 있다 to sit and stand, why don't they just say 앉다 and 서다? seems like they added 있다 to a verb stem, I have a feeling they try to interpret it as "to be sitting/standing", is that the reason?



*앉아있다 refers to the state rather than the action. *
*
앉다 is meant to "to sit or sit down."

서있다 also refers to the state rather than the action. 

서다 is meant to "to stand or stand up."

먹다 is "to eat" , and 먹있다  is non existant expression,  but 먹었다 is the past or perfect participle tense of "to eat."

마시다 is " to drink" and 마시있다 is not logical at all. On the other hand, 마셨다 is right as the past or perfect participle tense of " to drink."

So you can add " -있다 " behind the verb in order to indicate the stative situation as the suffix. 

For example, 가고 있다 means one is going to somewhere at the moment, which implies  present progressive with the state descriptive.

In conclude, -있다 could be meant to be the present progressive and the other is describing the state. 



*


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