Without te-form, there are multiple meanings - he is reading an English book, or he will read an English book soon, or he does read English books (as opposed to someone who does not). With te-form, it rules out the future case, although it could refer to an action currently in progress or an action that happens regularly or habitually (Takeshi has been into reading English books lately, but he is not necessarily reading one right now). In context it will be clearer what, exactly, たけしさんは英語の本を読んでいます means - "Takeshi's English has gotten good lately, huh?" "Yes, he's been reading English books (and is continuing to do so, but not necessarily at this very moment)." vs "What is Takeshi doing right now?" "He's reading an English book."

I'm also struggling to wrap my head around it at the moment.
This sentence has me confused (from a very short story, 桜の樹の下には, which is pretty much over my head anyway so maybe I should leave it alone for now, much as I like the opening sentence: 桜の樹の下には屍体（したい）が埋まっている, Dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees!):

これは信じていいことなんだよ。
A translation of the opening gives 'You have to believe it', but that doesn't seem to quite match up?

Looks like we're in a similar place in our studies, sprutnik. がんばって!

Last edited by Ampharos64 (2009 August 22, 3:13 pm)

Eek.. I wans't sure about my translation so I deleted it...

Sometimes if I think too hard about a sentence I can't be sure what it means anymore.
But I do think it means something along the lines of
"It's something that's good to be able to trust"
or "This is something that's okay to believe"
or "It's a good thing that you believe it."

It kinds of depends on context, I think. Or I'm just thinking way too hard about it.

Last edited by ocircle (2009 August 22, 3:52 pm)