I’m not sure if I’m more confused now than I was before or if that helped and I just need to think about it some more. xD
Maybe you are overthinking it.
疲れた I’m beat/tired
疲れている I’m beat/tired
疲れていた I was tired [at that time]
疲れました edit: I’m tired/I was tired (polite)
But 疲れました can also be “I am tired”, yes?
That was my original question. Since ました is usually past, I thought to say “I was tired” (just like you did) but it was translated to “I am tired” and that’s the idea I’m struggling with and probably, like you said, overthinking.
Again, it’s likely some of will be know better (I’m basically using hunches a lot here), but 起きた puts an emphasis on the fact you weren’t awake before, but now you are, while 起きている just means you’re awake at that moment.
Does it? I thought the ている would make it to mean the action was still in progress, like, “I am waking up.”?
Edit :Wait a sec… is that what you meant and I’m just misunderstanding?
Japanese tenses don’t work the same as in English - the た/ました forms are more like the perfect present /past than the simple past in English.
3 Likes
Ahahah, the ている form in some verbs means that, but in stative verbs (like waking up and being married, or being tired), the ている just means you’re currently that verb. So 結婚している人 means “a married person”, not a person currently getting married.
(I’m laughing because that tripped me up too. Japanese has other ways to specify that you’re in the middle of an action. Like I said, it’s best not to map Japanese tenses to English ones.)
9 Likes
Understood! Thank you for taking the time and having the patience to explain. I really appreciate it.
Sorry. My fault. I’m multitasking at work. You are correct. 疲れました is also I’m tired. I will update my above post.
Think of it like I’m hungry お腹すいた. Sounds past tense, but is basically, I’ve grown hungry and now I am hungry.
1 Like
Thank you! No worries, I’m also multitasking at work. 
I’m going to venture to guess that there isn’t really a solid rule that tells us how to differentiate between the two? As usual, context is key?
If you can easily stop during an action and get back to it, it’s likely not stative!.. that’s the best I can help here…
1 Like
Genki explains the Japanese progressive (～ている) pretty well in chapter 7.
3 Likes
Sometimes it helps me to think of ~ている form as “in a state of X.” So 結婚している means “I’m in a state of marriage” (I’m married). So when you say something like:
アヤトはまだ宿題をしていない。
Ayato has not done his homework yet.
It may help to read it as “Ayato is in a state of not having done his homework yet.”
7 Likes
Now we’re getting into negated progressive 
Honestly I think at this point it’s worth making a dedicated topic for the progressive form.
Sounds like I need to brush up on my grammar terms too…
I just made up the term “negated progressive”
Here’s the new thread about ～ている:
1 Like
Lvl’d up 12h ago 11am London time. 6am your timezone I believe.
Said that 5d ago love
EDIT: I only started doing the Kanji 36h after I lvl’d up. That’s probably why you’re confused ^^
Must be. Anyway I narrowed the gap 
It used to be some 30 hours, now only 17
1 Like
Not exactly grammar-only, but I guess small enough to not warrant its own thread:
I need some help dissecting this sentence:
たき火にゆっくりあたってまた焼きリンゴでもこしらえるとするかのう
The general meaning I can get out of it is “You can try baking apples at the bonfire again”, but I’m not 100% sure and even if I stumbled across the general meaning, I’d love if someone could help me break it down.
夏休みももう終わりだ。
Can someone please explain the purpose/function of the も that I “highlighted” in bold?