〜てある

By putting a verb into its -te form and adding the helping verb ある, you can convey the meaning that an action was done on purpose by an unnamed agent. For instance,

 "The heater is on because it is cold"

 寒いので、ストーブが付けてある

 "A book is on the table"　(it was placed there and has remained that way since)

 テーブルの上に本が置いてある　　（oite aru - to place)

 contrast with the simpler sentence, meaning simply that "a book in on the table"

 テーブルの上に本がある

 てある is used to describe a present state. It can be used when the state is the result of an earlier, preparatory action (〜ておきました）

 A restaurant reservation has been made:
レストランの予約がしてある
because
予約をしておきました

 bread has been bought
パンが買ってある
because
パンを買っておきました

 note that てある goes exclusively with transitive verbs, whereas ている goes with intransitive verbs.  The difference is subtle, and I don't fully understand it, since grammar isn't something I am good at.

 In English, at least, a transitive verb is one that has to have an object, like to fill.
You can't say "she filled", there has to be an object that is filled, "she filled the glass".
To run, on the other hand, is intransitive. "She ran" is perfectly fine.
Some verbs can be both, just to fuck with your head.

 Japanese is different. Transitive just means there is a direct agent (I dropped the ball) whereas intransitive requires none (the ball fell)

 In Japanese, we have two verbs for to close:
閉める　ー　しめる　ー　transitive 
窓が閉めてある

 閉まる　ー　しまる　ー　intransitive
窓が閉まている

 In the transitive sentence, the implication is that the window has been kept closed by human intervention ( a person closed the window or made sure it stayed closed). In the intransitive sentence, the window is simply closed - no human intervention is assumed.

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