～てある

[charusu]

Hello friends!

So I was looking at japanprobe.com and I saw a post (http://www.japanprobe.com/2011/09/25...g-point-cards/) about how somebody has created a fake "discount card" for a store that has employees that constantly ask if shoppers have the discount card - on the fake "discount card" it says "もってない" which seems to me to mean " don't have [one]". So もって is the -te form of "motsu" right? And ない is plain-form negative of "aru" right?

I've read about ～てある being used for resultant states but I can't find much more explanation. Could somebody please explain it? Why wouldn't one use the good ol' ～ている here? (as in "もっていない")

Doumo!

 

[Toritoribe]

持ってない is just a contraction of 持っていない in this case. It has nothing to do with ～てある.

Te form
Usage

• With the verbs :
  • いる iru: It means "to be doing". For example: 待っている matte iru: "I am waiting". This is also used in some situations where the English equivalent does not use "to be doing". For example: 知っている shitte iru: "I know", 持っている motte iru: "I have", ここに住んでいる koko ni sunde iru: "I live here". Colloquially, in this form the "i" often disappears, so 待っている matte iru becomes 待ってる matteru and 知っている shitte iru becomes 知ってる shitteru.

Japanese verb conjugation - Wikipedia

 

[charusu]

Perfect! I knew the contraction occurred in speech but did not know that it happened in writing, furthermore I didn't know that the contraction stuck around through conjugation - but it makes perfect sense now! Thanks a lot Toritoribe!