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Knowing that 行く is punctual, stative, and a motion verb, I also know that, 日本に行っている means "I/he/she have gone to Japan (and am still there)" rather than "I am currently going to Japan."

I also feel that 行っている can be used in the sense of habitual action, so that 大学に行っている can mean either "I'm at the college" or "I go to college" depending on the context.

That being said, can I also use 行っている in the sense of a habitual action in conjunction with 間(に)?

大学に行っている間、もっと勉強すればよかった。- I wish I had studied more when I was going to college.
大学に行っている間に高校の彼女と別れました。- While I was in college, I broke up with my girlfriend from high school.

大学に行っている間、雨が降りました。- It was raining while I was at school.
大学に行っている間に宿題をしました。- I did my homework while I was at school.

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    No offense, but I am very certain about my initial premise. 行く is a punctual verb, therefore, ている can not be used to mean "currently in the progress of going." and instead means "the state resulting after going". To say "currently in the process of going" I believe you would have to say something like 行く中。(someone correct me on that last bit if I'm wrong.. it's been a while since I heard about it and I don't really use it..) Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 2:26
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    See also Derek's elaboration on motion verbs with ている in japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3122/…
    – Flaw
    Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 2:59
  • As far as I'm aware, ている、even with 行く, can mean both "going" and the state resulting after going depending on context. どこに行ってるの? Correct me if im wrong but, I believe this could be used to mean "where are you going?" rather than "where have you gone and now are?".
    – phirru
    Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 5:24
  • link This explains a little bit about punctual verbs. I tried to find something a little better, but It's surprisingly hard to google! ;P Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 11:33
  • I've branched this discussion into another question here: japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/3262/…
    – Questioner
    Commented Sep 24, 2011 at 3:46

1 Answer 1

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That being said, can I also use 行っている in the sense of a habitual action in conjunction with 間(に)?

The answer is yes. 行っている can mean both “have gone” and “go habitually,” with or without 間.

仕事の関係で毎週月曜日に大阪に行っている。 I go to Osaka for business every Monday.

This sentence states that the speaker is currently following the pattern of “going to Osaka every Monday,” and does not imply that the speaker is currently in Osaka.

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    @Dave M G: I believe the meaning of "on the way to" is better expressed in Japanese by ~に行く途中だ or ~に向かっている. I can't personally recall ~に行っている being used to mean "on the way to ~", but as usual, I'm working with a small sample size. Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 15:39
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    @DaveMG: I do not know what you mean by “continuing state of going,” but ~に行っている does not mean “is on the way to ….” As Derek stated, “is on the way to …” is expressed as ~に向かっている or ~に行く途中だ. Commented Sep 23, 2011 at 18:25

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