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I was reading the basic dictionary of Japanese grammar, an entry on が to be
exact, and they used this interesting example sentence:

走っていますが、ちっとも痩せません。

and translated it as "I'm running, but I haven't lost any weight at all".

Why is "yasemasen" used here? The Genki textbook says that the English
"haven't done X" constructions normally translate to "~ていません", which is
obviously not the case here. Is it maybe because the sentence is actually
_habitual_ or something? I.e. it doesn't mean "I'm running _right now at the
moment of speaking_ ", but rather "I run periodically but I'm not (habitually)
losing any weight", or in Russian, "Бегаю, но совсем не худею"? Is this what
this sentence means?
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2015-08-09T10:08:26.177
27268
2015-08-10T16:03:01.477
2015-08-09T11:43:28.063
10753
question
grammar aspect
Why is the "-masen" form used to convey the meaning of negative present perfect here?
痩せません = 痩せます(explaned later, means lose weight) + ん(negation, auxiliary verb)

It seems 痩せます's origin was 痩す(lose weight, verb) + ます(polite, auxiliary verb),
but we don't use 痩す as an independent verb, at least in these days; we
generally use it if it were one verb.

As conclusion, I think your Japanese

走っていますが、ちっとも痩せません。

would be translated to

I'm running, but I don't lose weight at all.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-10T14:43:43.463
27306
2015-08-10T16:03:01.477
2015-08-10T16:03:01.477
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answer