This paper offers a pragmatic, comparative analysis of the Japanese verb forms V-TE-I-RU and V-TE-AR-U, considered as complex verbal forms that consist of four segments: a verbal stem; the conjunctive morpheme; an existential verbal stem and the tense morpheme. Both forms are said to characterize situational duration identified by the perfective verb stems and form choice is said to depend upon whether the subject entity is considered from a dynamic or a static viewpoint.