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I know I can use て-form to connect verbs (e.g chronological order) and I know I can use ている for repeated action. My question is: can I combine them?

For example:

毎日{まいにち}コンビニに行{い}って、 りんごを買{か}っている。
Every day I go to the convenience store and buy apples.

Or should I use masu / plain form on the last verb?

ZeroProcess
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    Related: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11925/habitual-aspect – user3856370 Feb 02 '21 at 20:02
  • Your question seems to suggest that the "_masu_ form" and the "plain form" are the same thing -- they aren't. The final verb in the sentence is in the plain form already. Also, neither the _masu_ form or the plain form really affect the grammar at all -- which one to use depends on your audience and the social context, not the grammar. – Eiríkr Útlendi Feb 02 '21 at 20:23
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    BTW, 「コンビニ**を**行く」 means like "I walk through the *entire* konbini", sort of implying that it's quite large. Presumably you're somewhat of a beginning (based on the question), and you really mean 「コンビニ**に**行く」 - "go *to* the kombini". – istrasci Feb 02 '21 at 20:25
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    My original post used に particle, but someone edited the post and made a mistake. Now I fixed that. I know the に particle means in this case the destination of action. – ZeroProcess Feb 02 '21 at 20:27
  • Also I know the masu (polite) and plain (politeless) form not the same, but I see some context wher used these instead of ている form when talk abut repeated action. – ZeroProcess Feb 02 '21 at 20:29
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    @ZeroProcess No, the mistake was in your original post. It was a typo on your part. You remember wrong. Take a look at [the change history](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/posts/84012/revisions). Don't blame other people who help clarify and better format your post. – Eddie Kal Feb 02 '21 at 20:30
  • I don't know can I see the history of post. Thx! Yeah that's was my mistake, sorry. But can someone answer the question? – ZeroProcess Feb 02 '21 at 20:32
  • I am composing an answer now, but will have to finish it after lunch, if no one beats me to it. – Eddie Kal Feb 02 '21 at 20:38
  • @ZeroProcess ている is plain. If it was masu form it would be ています. I'm guesing you mean to ask if you should use the non-past or dictionary form of the word. – Leebo Feb 02 '21 at 22:06

1 Answers1

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Yes,「ている」can be used to talk about a repeated action, but this is one of the tricky grammar points where Japanese and English diverge and the nuances are hard to grasp. Since you already use 「毎日」in that sentence, you can just use the dictionary form. When you use 「ている」to talk about a repeated action you stress its continuity and the fact that it is still ongoing and you are still doing it regularly/habitually.

In your case, it is not necessary to use 「ている」. Also you are talking about going to the store every day, so logically you come back after shopping. A good way to say this is

毎日コンビニに行ってりんごを買ってくる。

You can change them to 敬体/です・ます if you want. It only changes the politeness level.

And when you find yourself in a situation where you do need to use 「ている」, you can just attach it to the last verb in the sequence and use the te form for preceding verbs.

Eddie Kal
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    「毎日コンビニに行って、りんごを**買ってくる** 。」 はいいですが、「毎日りんごを買いにコンビニに**行ってくる** 。」はちょっと変・・・（たぶん「毎日」のせいかな.. 「今からリンゴを買いにコンビニに行ってくる。」はおかしくないので） – Chocolate Feb 03 '21 at 05:24
  • @Chocolate あっ、そうなんですか。ご指摘有難う御座います！じゃ、「毎日学校に行ってくる」はどうでしょうか？（「来る」は仮名を用いることは納得でした。）「毎日」と「行ってくる」を同時に使える場合はありますか？ – Eddie Kal Feb 03 '21 at 05:44
  • 「毎日学校に行ってくる」って、なんか変・・・なんでかな？ – Chocolate Feb 03 '21 at 06:23
  • @EddieKal I'm intrigued by this. Do you have a feel for why these sentences might be unnatural? Might be worth asking a separate question about it. – user3856370 Feb 03 '21 at 10:14
  • @EddieKal So if I understand correctly your answer my example sentence grammatically correct, but this depends from the context. Am I right? – ZeroProcess Feb 03 '21 at 18:30
  • @user3856370 Just posted! I am also stumped. I find myself in a wobbling state that I kind of understand what Chocolate says and kind of not. – Eddie Kal Feb 03 '21 at 19:15
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    @ZeroProcess Yes, your sentence is grammatical. My answer explains why you actually don't need to use 「ている」. – Eddie Kal Feb 03 '21 at 19:16
  • @EddieKal I see. Thank you! – ZeroProcess Feb 03 '21 at 19:19