We have two basic ways of expressing simultaneous actions in Japanese, e.g. “I ate dinner while watching television”. Both translate as “while” in English, but the usage in Japanese is different.
~ながら
【Verb: Stem】ながら【Verb】 |
テレビを |
Eat dinner while watching television. |
To go to sleep thinking about work. |
To work your way through university. |
What about the order? Well, grammatically it doesn’t matter but there the final verb can be considered to be the “main” action.
テレブを |
To eat dinner while watching television. |
To watch television while eating dinner. |
~ている間 に
【Verb: Present Participle】 |
The kanji 間 we’ve seen used as a counter for time periods.
1 |
One hour. |
3 |
Three weeks. |
In this structure 間 is a noun which the present participle is modifying to express the time period while doing something.
To refrain from drinking while pregnant. |
The critical difference between ながら and ~ている間に is that in the case of the former both actions will be performed by the speaker. On the other hand, ~ている間に is typically used when something else happens that is outside of your control while you are doing something.
Yesterday while I was sleeping a burglar crept into my room and stole my wallet. |
テレビを |
To get a phone call from a friend while watching television. |