Colloquial use of「〜て〔い〕ない」, maybe instead of 「〜なかった」


It's not the first time I hear it, but I've found it in [this
scene](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cr08R75yyU). I understand that, as in
知る or 始まる, a started action whose consequence remains is expressed in
continuous form. However, I thought that the negative form was constructed in
present or past, as 知らない or 始まらなかった, but not in continuous. I find examples as
the [linked video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cr08R75yyU) using instead
the negation of the continuous （見ていない）. In this case I would've used 「見なかった」.

Am I missing something or is it a slang transformation? In that case, which
form should be used? Thanks a lot!

Ferran

_EDIT: corrected misspelling/bad grammar. Tremendous lapsus :(_




I hear 「まだ見ていない。」, which seems entirely normal, comparable to the English
construction "I still haven't seen it." => "I'm in a still-continuing state of
not seeing it." I suppose there's some element of volition here; it's still
possible for her to see it if she wants to. For example, if a pterodactyl flew
overhead, and you missed seeing it, you would say 「見なかった」. You're no longer in
a state of being able to see it, even if you wanted to. It wouldn't make sense
to express it as a continuing state in such a case.

BTW, is 「見なくなかった」 a typo?




I hear 「まだ見ていない。」, which seems entirely normal, comparable to the English
construction "I still haven't seen it." => "I'm in a still-continuing state of
not seeing it." I suppose there's some element of volition here; it's still
possible for her to see it if she wants to. For example, if a pterodactyl flew
overhead, and you missed seeing it, you would say 「見なかった」. You're no longer in
a state of being able to see it, even if you wanted to. It wouldn't make sense
to express it as a continuing state in such a case.

BTW, is 「見なくなかった」 a typo?

