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寝太郎{ねたろう}はのんきに空{そら}をながめては暮{く}らしておりました。

My translation: Netarou was living by heedlessly looking the sky.

What does ては mean in this sentence?

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    http://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/41658/5010 You've asked about this before :) But I feel this sentence is a bit unnatural because 暮らす is not a short action... – naruto Feb 17 '17 at 13:39

1 Answers1

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「Verb A in て/で-form + は + Verb B」

means:

"to do A and B repeatedly as in a pair"

So, your translation looks good.

By far the most common and "famous" phrase using this structure would be 「食{く}っちゃ寝{ね}」, which is the colloquial pronunciation of 「食っては寝(て or る)」. That means "someone just eats and sleeps all day".

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  • Does this 「食っちゃ寝」expression sound slightly 'rough'? – Angelos Feb 17 '17 at 12:22
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    Just a lttle bit, maybe, but not so much at all. It is in such wide use and it kinda sounds "lively" if anything. It says a lot in just three syllables. –  Feb 17 '17 at 13:26