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A question from my grammar textbook:

> Ａ「あれ、山田さんは？もう帰った？」  
>  Ｂ「山田さんならたった今（ ）だから、まだその辺にいると思いますよ。」

Why is 帰っているところ wrong and only 帰ったところ correct? In English I think of the
meanings as "he was just leaving a moment ago" and "he just left a moment
ago", and I don't understand the problem in Japanese.
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2018-05-02T13:09:36.473
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2018-05-02T13:33:14.690
2018-05-02T13:33:14.690
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question
grammar
帰っているところ vs. 帰ったところ (〜ところ)
There are multiple ways I can think of approaching this.

  1. A big factor is たった今. It implies a moment in time, so it cannot be 帰っている which is something continuous. In that single moment, he "left".

  2. まだその辺にいると思いますよ tells us the person might still be nearby, but "nearby" is not equal to "here" so he already left. In this case, he's not "leaving" because he's no longer there. 

  3. Even in English, "he was just leaving a moment ago" sounds awkward to me. I’m not sure if it's correct grammatically, but I personally wouldn't use this phrase. As mentioned earlier, you cannot do a continuous action in a single moment. 

  4. While it is the act of "leaving/going home", I would translate 帰っているところ as "on my way home" instead.

〇 山田さんならたった今帰ったところだから、まだその辺にいると思いますよ。(Yamada-san just left so he might still
be nearby.)

✕ 山田さんならたった今帰っているところだから、まだその辺にいると思いますよ。(Yamada-san just on his way home so he
might still be nearby)
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2018-05-02T13:33:08.523
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2018-05-02T13:33:08.523
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answer