Using the て verb form

[Spiderwick]

Hi
I'm teachng myself Japanese using the 'Genki' textbook/CD (which I generally find really good). At the moment I am working on the 'te form' of verbs. Though I can conjugate the verb pretty accurately, I'm still getting confused.

For example, this is the sort of problem I am having:
I teach English
I'm now told this is わたし　は　えいが　を　おしえて　います. But, how is this different from わたし　は　えいが　を　おしえます? Which of these sentences is right? I understand that the second one could be 'I teach English / I am teaching English right now', but is the first one still saying 'I teach English'? Maybe my textbook is moving me on from using -ます but I need to know when not to use the -ます form so I don't look an idiot! So far with te-form I'm using it to:

- make a request;
- ask for permission
- state something that is forbidden
- using it to describe two events
- action in progress
- a past event that is connected to the present.

I know there is more to it than this, but this is all I have learned so far. Anyway, any help would be much appreciated
Anne

[Javizy]

It can be used to describe habitual actions, or according to my grammar book 'a special kind of repeated action'. I think it indicates an action that started some time ago and has been continuing since, but I can only speculate what the difference is, since I'm pretty sure the following examples would work just as well with the plain form. This distinction has been a bit of a thorn in my side as well; maybe someone else can clarify...

読売新聞を読んでいる
I read the Yomiuri newspaper.
毎朝ジョギングをしている
I go jogging every morning

By the way, 'English' is 英語(えいご), 映画(えいが) is 'movie'.

[Spiderwick]

Thanks for the helpful advice - can't believe I spelt English wrong in Japanese!
In relation to the 'te-form' then, should I just see if I can get away with both versions until my te-form understanding develops further? Thanks for the help, though. It's nice to see I'm not alone in these conjugation dilemmas!
Matana
Anne

[Psy]

As Javizy wrote, it describes something habitual or continuous, so whenever you use something like 毎日 or 毎朝 or 毎週 or any of those 毎 words, you'd want to use a ~te iru ending. Without the -te iru the implication is you're going to do it, but it hasn't been going on habitually.

That's my understanding at any rate. 毎日新聞を読む just doesn't quite sound right to me.

[Spiderwick]

Thanks for your explanation. I did have some trouble reading the Japanese. I can only read kana. Would you be able to translate it into kana for me? If it's too much trouble, don't worry I can still make a note of your explanation for my study. Thanks again,
Anne

[jkid]

I recommend downloading an extension for firefox called Rikaichan. It will help you read Japanese kanji. You can download it from here: http://www.polarcloud.com/

If you need more of an explanation on how to download install and use it, download the video JPOD put together at http://media.libsyn.com/media/japanesep ... pod101.m4v

I highly recommend it.

[Psy]

Thanks for your explanation. I did have some trouble reading the Japanese. I can only read kana. Would you be able to translate it into kana for me? If it's too much trouble, don't worry I can still make a note of your explanation for my study. Thanks again,
Anne

Agh, sorry about that! I had been flipping between a few different threads and confused you with someone else who had written using kanji. Whenever I see that I respond using kanji as well:

As Javizy wrote, it describes something habitual or continuous, so whenever you use something like まいにち or まいあさ or まいしゅう or any of those まい words, you'd want to use a ~ている ending. Without the -ている the implication is you're going to do it, but it hasn't been going on habitually.

That's my understanding at any rate. 「まいにち　しんぶんを　よむ」 just doesn't quite sound right to me.

[moejoe56]

I agree, I think the Genki textbooks are pretty good. But the only thing I hate it that the exercise don't have an answer key. Does anybody know where I can get my hands on the answer key?

[jkeyz15]

For anyone interested that can read it:
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/search.php? ... se=1&row=6