Past form in Japanese?

Question

Its driving me absolutely mad. I dont understand why the te form is used in this situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2SjR2bIidY&feature=related

About 3 mins through, they say kiitenai. Translated as 'you didn't listen to it'. If it was past negative informal, wouldn't it be kiiteTAnai?

Answer 1

kiitenakata is strickly informal but the other form is colloquial

Answer 2

It's actually from kiite imasu.

Then, kiite iru to make it colloquial.

Then kiite inai to make it negative. (rmb that iru is grp 2 verb)

And, I think I read from Tae Kim's guide that Japanese usually lose the 'i' so all that's left is kiite nai.

Answer 3

Yes, the Japanese have some past form, remember Pearl Harbour!

Answer 4

she didnt listen to it

=kiitenai

'kiita nai' is not japanese.

kiita -> past

inai/nai -> negative

kiiteinai / kiitenai -> kiiteinakatta / kiitenakatta (past negative)

but 'kiitenai' is ok in this context.

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hm.. i think translation is wrong. correct translation is

kiitenai -> she doesnt listen (their album).

there's no past form in their conv.

there're lots of japanese programs in youtube. but you cant trust translations. i've seen lots of mistakes. some are not just a simple mistakes but deception. of course, some translators are not native japanese speaker. besides their vocab is really poor. you can refer to their translations but dont trust.

anyway, you're doing great.

keep it up!