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Based on what I've been learning, it seems that by saying 分からない, your
suggesting that you just don't do "the act of understanding," but if you say
分かっていない, you are saying that "right now, I don't understand." However, I hear
people say 分からない to mean "I don't understand" much more often. Is it just more
colloquial, or am I missing something grammatically?
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2018-06-17T07:50:44.340
59514
2018-06-19T08:01:43.660
2018-06-17T10:11:53.360
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question
grammar aspect
Why do people say 分からない and not 分かっていない?
> Based on what I've been learning, it seems that by saying 分からない, your
> suggesting that you just don't do "the act of understanding," but if you say
> 分かっていない, you are saying that "right now, I don't understand.

I only wonder where and/or how you have been learning Japanese.

> However, I hear people say 分からない to mean "I don't understand" much more
> often.

There you go! That is the default "I don't know/understand." for the native
speakers.

> Is it just more colloquial, or am I missing something grammatically?

It has nothing to do with formality -- none. It has much to do with the
particular nuance of each phrase (especially わかっていない).

**Things you わからない** are as follows (as vague as they might sound).

New concepts/information. Things you have been told about or taught **_just
now_**. In other words, things that you have fairly valid reasons to not know
or understand.

For instance, let's pretend that I just explained to you how to use a certain
idiomatic expression in Japanese. If you do not understand it, you would say
「わからない/わかりません」. It's alright because idiomatic expressions can be very
difficult for the learners to use correctly or actively. Besides, I am a
terrible teacher. A native speaker would almost never say 「わかっていない/わかっていません」
in that type of situation.

**Things you わかっていない** are as follows.

Old information and common sense. Things you are "supposed" to
know/understand. Things that you might **_not_** have very good reasons to not
know/understand. What have you been doing all these months/years?

There is a fairly clear lack of effort or willingness to learn on your part.
That is when we use 「わかっていない/わかっていません」.
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2018-06-17T13:22:37.820
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answer
It’s the same as English, you either do or do not understand. Saying “I’m not
understanding” is not a natural way for people to say it.

> わからない
>
> わかりません
>
> I don’t understand

You don’t use the て form for this. However, it is common to use the past form.

> わかった
>
> わかりました
>
> oh, now I understand
>
> yes, understood

While 分{わ}かる is the correct kanji, this is often written in hiragana by native
speakers. The 普通形{ふつうけい} (conversational forms) are commonly used but it is
still encouraged to use the polite forms with people you aren’t familiar with.

Similarly, you don’t use the て form for “know”. Since you aren’t in the act of
“not knowing”, you just “don’t know” at the moment (or won’t indefinitely).

> 知{し}らない
>
> 知{し}りません
>
> I don’t know
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answer