Why is it that you say 住んで います instead of 住みます when talking about where you live?
One of the uses of ている form is to express ongoing state. So 日本に住んでいる means that you are in the state of living in Japan. In English of course we just express this as “I live in Japan”.
Adding on to what seanblue is saying, 日本に住みます would be like saying “I will live in japan” vs 日本に住んで います being “I am living in japan”.
From Genki Chapter 10 practice, I have to fill in the blank:
子供のの時、やさいがきらいでしたが、今、______ なりました。
Would 元気じゃないに work here? The chapter doesn’t give any examples of becoming a negative.
I think in this case it’s probably すきになりました (I have come to like them now) because the particle at the end of the first phrase, が, implies a “however” and a change to that state. So as a child, you hated vegetables, but now you’ve come to like them.
I’m trying to remember what grammar points were in Genki 1 chpt 10, and I think this is where you are learning 〜になります, right?
Yes, you are learning ～になります in that chapter.
Pretty much every other prompt in that exercise ends in ～から. I think my brain just glazed over and read the が as から, even when typing it for this question. Thanks for the help!
No problem! Best of luck in your studies and be sure to take some breaks haha
My goal is to finish Genki I by the time Animal Crossing: New Horizons comes out, and try to play that as my first game in Japanese. Gotta finish chapters 10-12 in the next 23 days!
…actually, I’ve done almost 6 chapters since the start of February, so I suppose I’m way ahead of schedule.
Whoah you’re moving fast! Way to stick with it! Just don’t burn yourself out 
but it looks like you have quite a bit of time and a plan in place so I’m sure you’ll be fine
And that sounds fun! I don’t have a Switch so sadly I can’t immediately play it when it comes out, but I’m looking forward to seeing screenshots and videos of others playing
Does 学生は誰 can also be written as 誰が学生でか? Or they have different meaning?
I think both sentence are asking who is the student.
学生は誰ですか。 Means ‘who is that student’ emphasis on the student.
誰が学生ですか。 Means ‘Who is a student’ emphasis on who.
In the first one you might already know there is a specific student being talked about, you just want to know specifically which one.
Second one is more a general question.
Thank you for clarifying.
What does ある mean at the beginning of a sentence? For example: あるところに男がいました。or ある夜、男の家におじいさんが来ました。
It means “a certain”.
ah, much appreciated
I’m a bit confused about this sentences:
少し日本語がわかる
I understand a bit of japanese
少し日本語が理解できます
I can undestand a bit of japanese
私は少し日本語が理解できます
I can understand a little japanese
Why is the 3rd sentence the only one with 私 in the beginning? The only thing that is different with the 2nd and 3rd sentences are the words bit and little. I don’t understand why add 私 in the beginning though 
Maybe it’s a contrast vs someone else? As in another person understands none or is more fluent and the ‘I’ only understands a little in contrast? Is there more context to these sentences?
You rarely ever use pronouns when talking about yourself, unless you want to specify that you’re talking about yourself.
少し日本語が理解できます
I can understand a bit of Japanese.
私は少し日本語が理解できます
I can understand a bit of Japanese.
The nuance is a bit lost in English, but these statements are slightly different. The first example is a mere statement, whereas the second one says that yes, in fact, you can actually understand a bit of Japanese. Of course this is all very dependant on the context.
The question was “Can you understand japanese?” (From a sample comic). The 3 person answered those 3 different sentences.
Just as i answered to athomasm, those 3 sentences were answers from 3 different people asked, if they understand japanese.