Translation guide
How to encourage someone to continue what they are doing, or to express that an action or state continues.
You want to cheer someone on to keep doing what they are doing (e.g., during a race, while working, while speaking).
The most common and versatile encouragement. Literally 'do your best', but used like 'keep going' or 'you can do it'.
Just a little more! Keep going!
Means 'keep it up' or 'that's the way'. Used when someone is already doing well and you want them to continue at that pace.
Please keep going like that.
Casual, from English 'fight'. Often used in sports or friendly encouragement.
Keep going! One more lap!
Directly means 'continue'. Can sound a bit blunt as encouragement; more often used as an instruction.
Keep going just like that.
You want to say that someone or something continues to do something, or that a state persists.
Attach to the masu-stem of a verb to mean 'continue to do ~'. Very common and natural.
He kept running.
It keeps raining.
Used after a verb in past or negative form, or after a noun + の, to mean 'keep ~ing' or 'remain in a state'. Often implies leaving something as it is.
Keep the door open.
Using ずっと with the te-iru form emphasizes that an action or state has been continuing for a long time.
I've been working since morning (and am still going).
Attach to masu-stem to mean 'do something all the way through' or 'persist in doing'. Stronger than 続ける, implies seeing it to the end.
I kept going until the end.
You want to tell someone to keep walking, driving, etc., without stopping.
続ける focuses on the continuation of an action, while 〜まま focuses on maintaining a state without change. For example, 走り続ける means 'keep running' (action continues), while 立ったまま means 'remain standing' (state unchanged).
He kept running for an hour.
He was sleeping while standing up.
立ったまま話しましょう。
Let's keep standing while we talk.