「過去に起きたことを」今、経験として、「持っている」という形になるのです


The following is an excerpt from my conversation via e-mail with my language
partner. For some context:

> アンドレアスさんが言っているのは、「経験・経歴を表すテイル形」のことだと思います。これは中上級向け文法書に出ている使い方で、少し難しいです。
> まず、現在進行形の文と区別するために、必ず過去を表す言葉と一緒に使います。
>
> 「過去に起きたことを」今、経験として、「持っている」という形になるのです。

The sentence in question:

> 「過去に起きたことを」今、経験として、「持っている」という形になるのです。

My attempt at translation:

> Treating something that happened in the past as present, it becomes a form
> meaning 'it (still) lasts'.

The main issue are those quotation marks and the interaction with the
environment. I don't really know whether I understood the part
「過去に起きたことを」今、経験として correctly. I also don't know whether the way I interpreted
「持っている」 という形 correctly. I think what she wants to tell me is that when I use
ている for events which happened in the past, these events must live on in the
present? Is that it?




I'm not sure how best to express it, but it feels like you're misunderstanding
two key phrases in the sentence.

  1. 経験として

I don't even see where this appears in your translation, but it means "as an
experience."

  2. 持っている

I think you're translating this as "still lasts" but I think here it means
"something one has/possesses"

As I'm sure you're aware from the part above, your interlocutor is explaining
a grammatical form in Japanese, specifically a usage of 〜ている.

For the whole thing,

> 「過去に起きたことを」今、経験として、「持っている」 という形になるのです。

My translation would be:

> This a form that expresses that "something which happened in the past" is
> now "being possessed/held" as an experience.

I think the parts in quotes serve a two-fold purpose. First, they indicate the
person explaining is using the same sort of construction they are explaining
(I think?) Second, they express that these are not proper terms for
linguistics or Japanese grammar but rather colloquial quotations. (I could be
completely wrong on the quote usage).

