Meaning
This grammar pattern describes two actions or phenomena repeating continuously. The two verbs before 「ては」 use the same verb. It expresses that the same action or sequence is repeated over and over.
Formation
| Part of speech | Formation |
|---|---|
| Verb (て-form) | は |
| い-adjective (…い) | くては |
| な-adjective | では |
| Noun | では |
Examples
-
書いては消し、書いては消し
Writing and erasing, writing and erasing. -
食べては寝、寝では食べ
Eating and sleeping, sleeping and eating. -
道は渋滞し、進んでは止まり、止まっては進むの繰り返しだった。
The road was congested — moving and stopping, stopping and moving, over and over. -
連日、睡眠を削って、描いては消して、描いては消して、ようやくコンテストに出す絵を完成させることができました。
Day after day, cutting back on sleep, drawing and erasing, drawing and erasing, I finally managed to finish the painting for the contest. -
入院中は体を動かせなかったので、食べては眠り、食べては眠りの連続で飽きてしまった。
While hospitalized I couldn't move around, so it was just eating and sleeping, eating and sleeping — I got sick of it. -
今の仕事は、資料を見てはパソコンに打ち込み、見てはパソコンに打ち込みの繰り返しです。本当に単純作業です。
My current job is just looking at documents and typing them into the computer, over and over. It really is simple repetitive work.
Summary
- 「〜ては…、〜ては…」 means "doing something again and again; repeatedly"
- Attaches to verbs (て-form), い-adjectives, な-adjectives, and nouns
- The order of the two verbs can also be swapped