Hello guys!
I was initially going to post this in the Short Grammar Questions thread, but it was getting so long I thought I’d better start a new topic. I’m sure this must’ve been covered somewhere on the forum already, but I couldn’t find it. )= I hope you don’t mind if I bring it back up. As you can see from the title, it’s from beginner grammar, so excuse my ignorance.
I’ve been working my way through Genki and, recently, studying Lesson 7. What bugged me a little was the usage of ~ている for expressing “result of a change”. I try not to rely on “translating” the grammar into English since that’s bound to chaos, but this time it’s been hard lol. I am (quite) fine with the idea of, for “change verbs”, this construction expressing things that have evolved their state with effects to the present time. BUT…
"X ている" vs. "X"
I’m having a hard time differentiating ~ている from simply the verb in the present tense (or other tenses, considering the one of いる) for the case of the “change verbs”. Using examples from the book and adding sentences of my own below:
お金をたくさん 持っている。(You) have a lot of money. Result of owning money.
お金をたくさん 持つ。(You) have a lot of money. (?)
家族は東京に 住んでいる。My family lives in Tokyo. Result of residing there.
家族は東京に 住む。My family lives in Tokyo. (?)
母を 知っている。(You) know my mother. Result of getting to know her.
母を 知る。(You) know my mother. (?)
I am guessing the second ones are either ungrammatical or simply not the common inflection for these types of verbs. I’m tending to believe that they are built in that manner the same way, in English, we never say “I sit down”, but “I am sitting down”, so saying “持つ”, “住む”, and “知る” would not be appropriate. Can someone clarify or confirm? Man is this mind-boggling
The issue extends into “movement verbs”:
東京に 行っている。I am in Tokyo. Result of going there.
東京に いる。I am in Tokyo. (?)
And for these, I’m guessing the latter, while not ungrammatical, emphasizes the state of being/existing in Tokyo, while the former highlights the fact that I’ve come to Tokyo and am still there. Is that true?
"To be X-ing" vs. "To X"
My other question is regarding the “translation” the book provides. It mentions that Xている when used with “change verbs” does not mean “to be X-ing”.
For movement verbs, it says that (depending on the context, I assume) 東京に行く can mean “(I) am going to Tokyo (right now)”, and I’m fine with that. But does this apply to verbs like the other ones I exemplified before? (持つ、住む、知る...)
The example it gives is
私は 結婚している。 I am married. Result of getting married.
So I am assuming that the counterpart:
私は 結婚する。 either means “I am getting married (right now)” or “I am going to/will get married”. Is that assumption too bold? lol
Anyway, this loooong post was kind of me trying to find my own explanation and wondering if you guys could help clarify or correct me if I’m wrong!
I imagine this must be pretty basic stuff for a lot of you, but it made my mind go
Thank you lots if you read this far. Any help is truly appreciated.