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It's not the first time I hear it, but I've found it in [this
scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cr08R75yyU). I understand that, as in
知る or 始まる, a started action whose consequence remains is expressed in
continuous form. However, I thought that the negative form was constructed in
present or past, as 知らない or 始まらなかった, but not in continuous. I find examples as
the [linked video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cr08R75yyU) using instead
the negation of the continuous （見ていない）. In this case I would've used 「見なかった」.

Am I missing something or is it a slang transformation? In that case, which
form should be used? Thanks a lot!

Ferran

_EDIT: corrected misspelling/bad grammar. Tremendous lapsus :(_
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2011-09-06T21:32:27.613
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2011-12-29T05:45:20.907
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grammar slang colloquial-language て-form
Colloquial use of「〜て〔い〕ない」, maybe instead of 「〜なかった」
I hear 「まだ見ていない。」, which seems entirely normal, comparable to the English
construction "I still haven't seen it." => "I'm in a still-continuing state of
not seeing it." I suppose there's some element of volition here; it's still
possible for her to see it if she wants to. For example, if a pterodactyl flew
overhead, and you missed seeing it, you would say 「見なかった」. You're no longer in
a state of being able to see it, even if you wanted to. It wouldn't make sense
to express it as a continuing state in such a case.

BTW, is 「見なくなかった」 a typo?
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2011-09-06T23:02:18.073
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I second @syockit's comment above. 「〜なかった」 is neutral with respect to
volition, while, for volitional verbs such as 「見る」, 「書く」 and 「行く」, the
「〜て〔い〕る」 construction implies volition. This means 「〜て〔い〕ない」 shows volition
but lack of execution/completion. Here's an example:

「小論、できました？ Did you get your essay finished?」

  * 「いいえ、しませんでした・しなかったです No, I didn't do it.」
  * 「いいえ、〔まだ〕していません・して〔い〕ないです No, I haven't done it (yet).」
  * 「いいえ、〔まだ〕できていません・〔い〕ないです No, it isn't done (yet) / I haven't gotten it finished (yet)」

People drop the イ to make it more colloquial/less formal. Don't confuse this
with 「〜てある・てない」, which is used to talk about the continuing result of a
transitive verb:

  * 「ドアが開いている The door is open (neutral)」 
  * 「ドアが開けてある The door is in the state of having been opened (implies an agent)」
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2011-09-07T11:35:38.773
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