# -고 있다 with sleep



## Hyperpolyglot

I always thought that the structure of the present progressive is always take the verb stem and add 고 있다 but that's not always the case, I saw a sentence lime 남자가 앉아 있어요, and learned something about the intransitive and transitive verbs where a verb that doesn't act on a direct object in the present progressive doesn't use 고 있다, instead, it's just 아/어/여 있다, then why do I see 자고 있어요? I think sitting and sleeping both don't have direct object, then why isn't sleeping 자 있어요?


----------



## LiKenun

Hyperpolyglot said:


> always thought that the structure of the present progressive is always take the verb stem and add 고 있다 but that's not always the case, I saw a sentence lime 남자가 앉아 있어요, and learned something about the intransitive and transitive verbs where a verb that doesn't act on a direct object in the present progressive doesn't use 고 있다, instead, it's just 아/어/여 있다, then why do I see 자고 있어요? I think sitting and sleeping both don't have direct object, then why isn't sleeping 자 있어요?


*자다* is transitive; it takes an object.

기린은 하루에 약 *두시간을* 잔다. ← 麒麟은 하루에 約 *두時間을* 잔다.
_Giraffes sleep for about two hours a day._
추위 때문에 *잠을* 잘 수 없다.
_Because of the cold, I can’t sleep._
*낮잠을* 자야겠어
_(I) need to take a nap._
*단잠을* 자고 있었어.
_(I) slept like a baby._ / _(I) slept well._ / _(I) had a great sleep._
In English, sleep can be transitive or intransitive:

I slept *the night* away. (transitive)

I slept for the entire night. (intransitive)

*See:* Duolingo: Learn Spanish, French and other languages for free


----------



## Hyperpolyglot

I kinda get it now, so you can sleep the sleep, dance the dance, but you can't sit the sit


----------



## LiKenun

Hyperpolyglot said:


> I kinda get it now, so you can sleep the sleep, dance the dance, but you can't sit the sit


These are transitive in English:

*Seat* _yourselves_ and listen to my words.

The woman is *seating* _a guest_.
But they are either intransitive (앉다) in Korean or transitive using a different verb (앉히다):

*앉아서* 내 말을 들어봐.
여자가 _손님을_ 자리에 *앉히고 있다*. ← 女子가 _손님을_ 자리에 *앉히고 있다*.
The verbs are in bold. The objects are in italics.


----------

