つつあるis in the middle of changing
A change has started and isn't finished yet: recovering, spreading, disappearing. It is the voice of news and reports. Plain つつ, without ある, is a different thing: "while doing" or "although".
The economy is gradually recovering.
How to form it
Verb for a change, in the ます-stem + つつある
変わります → 変わりつつある. Polite つつあります, past つつあった. It also goes before a noun: 失われつつある伝統, a tradition that is being lost.
- Before it
- A verb for a change: 増える, 減る, 変わる, 広がる, 回復する, 失われる, なる. Often with 徐々に or 少しずつ.
- Tone
- Neutral. Welcome changes and unwelcome ones alike.
- Where you'll meet it
- News, reports, essays, speeches. In conversation people say ている or てきている: 増えている, 増えてきている.
In use
Cashless payment is spreading through the whole of society.
Working from home is becoming the norm.
After a long rest, she is getting her confidence back.
At the time, the local economy was getting back on its feet after the crisis.
Past: the recovery was under way then.
A change, not something you are doing
English "is …ing" covers "is recovering" and "is eating" alike. つつある is only the first kind: a change that is heading somewhere. Something you are simply doing stays with ている.
Not said: 弟は
(My little brother is eating lunch now.)
食べている.
Not there yet
With a change that happens in a moment, like 完成する, 消える or 終わる, ている says it has happened. つつある says it is still on the way.
The new station building is already complete.
Done.
The new station building is nearing completion.
Getting there.
Close neighbours
つつ・つつもN2
Without ある it joins two halves of a sentence: "while doing", or "although" after a verb like 知る or 思う.
I put the report together while checking the materials.
てくるN4
The everyday way to say a change has been building up.
The rain has been getting heavier and heavier.
一方だN2
A change that only goes one way, with no end in sight, and mostly unwelcome. つつある is neutral and only says the change is under way.
Prices just keep going up.
Check yourself
1Which sentence sounds natural?
Choose an answer to see why.
2What does this mean?
その
Choose an answer to see why.
More sentences
The coastal ecosystem is gradually recovering.
In this area, the old shopping streets as people knew them are disappearing.
New ways of working are taking root among younger people.
The negotiations are moving toward an agreement.