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[`控える`](http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E6%8E%A7%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B/UTF-8/?pg=1) as far
as I can tell behaves more predictably than
[`控えている`](http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E6%8E%A7%E3%81%88%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B/UTF-8/)
in that it generally seems to mean "to refrain" and "to make notes" (as in
`電話番号を控える`.)

However, `控えている` seems to mean many more things including "expecting (a
baby)", "to be soon", "waiting (for)", "facing", "contend with" and "abstain
from":

> 彼女は出産を控えているの？  
>  Is she expecting （a child）?
>
> ちょうど1年後に控えている  
>  be just a year away.
>
> 使者が次の間に控えている  
>  The messenger is waiting in the next room.
>
> 彼の別荘は後ろに山を控えている  
>  There is a mountain behind his country cottage.
>
> その会社には幾多の難問題が控えている  
>  The company has many difficulties to contend with.
>
> 彼は健康上の理由から肉を控えている。  
>  He abstains from meat for health reasons.

Would I be able to ask how to define `控える` and `控えている`, how they have come to
mean so many things and whether there's a way of determining what `控えている`
means in a given context?
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2011-12-03T02:42:12.910
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question
words
Defining 控える and 控えている
With or without `ている`, the core meaning does not change. It means
'waiting/staying behind (for something)'
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-12-03T03:48:28.697
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answer
Found two dictionaries:
[goo](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/je2/62692/m0u/%E6%8E%A7%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B/)
and [alc](http://eow.alc.co.jp/%E6%8E%A7%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B/UTF-8/?pg=1). (Any
good Japanese-English dictionaries that I can reference here? I always use a
Japanese-Japanese one. The translation are not very good. However, the
examples in alc are excellent, though not 100% correct.)

The meaning of 控える can be "waiting/saying behind(for something)", or "to
refrain", or "to make notes", or more. And 控えている is formed by 控え+ている, and
"ている" here means something like "in the state of".

As for the examples:

>
```

>     ちょうど1年後に控えている
>     be just a year away（主語を）
>  
```

It means the phrase can be used as " **卒業を* _ちょうど一年後に控えている", "_ *Graduation**
is just a year away".
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answer