almost all・most
hardly any・few
adverbial noun
Structure
- ほとんど + Phrase
- ほとんど + Phrase = almost all ・ most
- ほとんど + ない = hardly any ・ few
usually written in kana
In the follow example sentence…
田中さんはまたどこか行くのですか。彼はほとんどの国に行っているんじゃないですか。
Tanaka-san is going somewhere again? he has been to almost all of the countries, hasn’t he?
Why is ～ている translated into the past tense? I am currently only familiar with its progressive form (i.e. to be doing).
It sounds like a translation choice to me. Since we know he is going again, the English progressive got left out so perhaps: “He has been going to almost all of the countries, hasn’t he?” might work too.
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Oh hey again s1212z! (^O^)／
Your translation makes alot of sense to me. So is it safe to assume that ～ている can also imply actions that happened in the past and continue to be happening into the present? (Apologies if i’m being to pedantic on the topic (^.^;）)
Hi deltacat3!
This sounds correct to me. The starting point in past is in the context of course but I think there are some special meaning 行っている or action verbs with いる that was mentioned in Guide to Japanese (see motion verb section). They mention it doesn’t necessarily have a “going” type of implication but this sounds like word play to me. Also Maggie Sensei talks about past usage like you mentioned with other good examples.
However, let’s check with BunPro @mrnoone on this one because the continuous action sounds in action verbs sounds implied but it exclusion may just be to give a clean/concise translation without literal “ing”.
From Guide to Japanese
1. 先に 行っている よ。
I’ll go on ahead. (I’ll go and be there before you.)
Q: Can we say “I’m going on ahead”
From Maggie Sensei
Ex. 彼女は、沖縄に５回も行っている。
= Kanojo wa, Okinawa ni gokai mo itte iru.
= She has been to Okinawa FIVE times already.
Q: Can we say "She has gone (been going) to Okinawa FIVE times already (giving the implication that she may go more…giving a continuous “going” feel)?
These are great questions and we are learning together. If I have degree of certainty, I will try answer since there are alot of questions and we should try to help each other. Otherwise, I don’t want to give bad info so let’s check with the 先輩s 
when they have a chance to answer.
2 Likes
I don’t know if this was intended or not so I am just posting here in case it isn’t.
The review accepted あまり when the review is for ほとんど. Normally when Bunpro is looking for a particular grammar point it makes it pretty clear but it just accepted it this time. Which is odd since I don’t even know is あまり would actually work since after reviewing it it appears it has to be immediately followed by a noun/adj/verb. Anyways
今日は宿題が --ほとんど-- ない。Is the grammar point
Hey! This seems like a input error on our end, and We have just fixed it! あまりない can work here and be understood, however, having a noun/adj/verb after あまり would flow better and make the sentence sound more natural.