Japanese Grammar – Even though it seems as though my son will lose the race, he’s still giving his best. 🇯🇵

むすこ は きょうそう を まけ そう なのに、よく（がんばる）____よ。

The correct answer is "がんばっています". Here's an explanation of why this is the correct answer, along with other necessary grammatical points to understand this structure:

### Explanation

1. Verb "がんばる":
– Root form: がんばる (ganbaru – to do one's best, to *vere)

2. Present Progressive Tense:
– The present progressive tense in Japanese is formed by taking the verb stem and adding ている.
– For the verb がんばる:
– The stem is がんば (ganba).
– The て-form is がんばって (ganbatte).

3. Conjugation:
– To form the present progressive, you combine the て-form with いる (iru):
– がんばって + いる = がんばっている (ganbatte iru).
– This conjugation indicates an ongoing action, equivalent to "is doing" in English.

4. Politeness:
– To make it more polite, you conjugate いる (iru) to います (imasu):
– がんばっている + います = がんばっています (ganbatte imasu).
– This gives the meaning "is doing one's best" in a polite form.

### Sentence Breakdown

– むすこ (musuko):
– Means "my son".

– は (wa):
– Topic marker.

– きょうそう (kyousou):
– Means "competition" or "race".

– を (wo/o):
– Object marker.

– まける (makeru):
– Means "to lose".

– そう (sou):
– Indicates appearance or seeming condition, comparable to "seems" or "looks like".

– なのに (nanoni):
– Means "even though" or "despite".

By inserting "がんばっています," the sentence becomes:

– むすこ は きょうそう を まけ そう なのに、よく がんばっています よ。
– Romanized: Musuko wa kyousou o make sou nanoni, yoku ganbatteimasu yo.

This version correctly conveys in Japanese that despite looking like he will lose, the son is still doing his best. The present progressive verb form "がんばっています" expresses the ongoing effort and matches the context of the sentence.

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