42880
I would like to know what is the difference between these setences :

> 私はやせていて
>
> 私はやせています
>
> 私はやせている

I already know that the difference between v~いる & v~います is just that one is in
the formal way and the other one in the informal. But I can't find nothing
about v~いて.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-25T11:13:07.687
42869
2017-01-25T17:33:40.753
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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question
grammar word-choice て-form
What is the difference between these three sentences
> I already know that the difference between v~いる & v~います is just that one is
> in the formal way and the other one in the informal. But I can't find
> nothing about v~いて.

_I'd like to preface this response by saying that I lack the (academic)
lexicon to explain this in linguistic terms, so I'm going to attempt to
explain it the way that I've learned and most easily understood it. If anyone
would like to critique/add better nuance to this response, I'd be more than
happy to edit it to incorporate that information._

As it seems that you're somewhat familiar with ～ている you probably know that
it's often used to convey an action in process, such as 食べている (is eating) or
歩いている (is walking). However, this is typically not the case for verbs that
describe a change of state, such as やせる, 太{ふと}る, and (though slightly more
difficult to understand) 行く.

In the case of such verbs, the nuance changes from "action in process" to
"resultant state of continuing that action." e.g. If you continue to lose
weight you will be thin. To generally understand what verbs fall into this
category, here's a simple test: Is the answer to whether or not they've been
done always going to be either "yes" or "no"? In the case of やせる (to _become_
thin), you have either lost weight or you haven't. So if you use the present
tense (その人はやせる) the nuance is that of "that person _will_ lose weight"; the
past tense, accordingly is "that person _has_ lost weight." By using the -て
form here we gain access to the middle ground of "that person is in the state
of lost weight (read: skinny), but we're not commenting on whether or not this
is a change that has taken place or just the normal state of affairs for
them."

All that said, though I also learned the verb やせる early in my Japanese
education, in retrospect I don't think it and 太る are great verbs for
describing people's weight unless you're commenting on a change like "Oh,
you've lost so much weight!" (...and even then it can come across as impolite
depending on to whom you're speaking!) Nowadays I'd be much more likely to use
something like 細{ほそ｝い (slender) if I were trying to compliment someone.
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2017-01-25T17:33:40.753
42880
2017-01-25T17:33:40.753
18701
42869
answer