A question about する (Have/Wear)

Japanese
#1

I saw there was no community discussion for N4 Lesson 3: 18/19 する (Have/Wear).

I get the use case of the lesson but I am confused about what the rule is to determine if I am using する or している. I don’t see where in the lesson it describes the difference and every example during the lesson uses している. する never gets used until the examples at the end.

彼女はすぐ怒った顔をする。
She quickly makes an angry face.

あの人は優しそうな顔をしているけど、本当は意地悪な人なんです。
That person has a kind face, but they are actually a mean person.

Both of these sentences describe a type of face? I get from a bunch of the lessons how nuanced things like this can be, but I can’t tell what it is by looking at the examples.

Thanks everyone

#2

Generally, the standard form of verbs has 3 main uses:

  1. Expressing future events
  2. Expressing habits
  3. Expressing general facts

Meanwhile the ~ている form usually expresses that the action is currently taking place (however it can also be habitual).

From your examples, it seems like the first expresses a general fact regarding 彼女, while the second expresses that あの人 currently has a friendly face. We don’t really have any context beyond that, so these sorts of sentences can often have a bit of personal interpretation depending on how you imagine the scenario.

#3

Hi! here’s what I think in this situation:

する = action verb. Usually generalized as “to do”

している = stative verb. Usually “to have”

And it comes from the context of each sentence. Hints in the first sentence that it’s an action verb: すぐ, implying that she’s got to be doing some kind of action because she’s doing some kind of action quickly. You can’t “quickly have” an angry face - you either just have an angry face OR you quickly make one on your usual face, hahah

Hints in the second sentence that it’s a stative verb: けど、本当は。。。な人なんです。This one is definitely more nuanced due to lack of context but when translated you can see why a stative ‘has’ makes more sense than the active ‘do/make’. Like saying someone has a resting b*tch face but is actually very kind, except in Bunpro’s example, it’s the opposite :joy:

i hope that helped in some way. sorry if my explanation is not the best!

#4

I think your explanation makes sense. Like a lot of Japanese, I guess the nuance is just hard to grasp in some of these sentences without more exposure to real native content. Which I am not good at doing. Thanks for the help.

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#5

I think the explanation about する=“do/make a face” vs している=“have an expression” is on point here.

In all example sentences する refers to an active change of expression in reaction to something happening (except for the sentence about the necktie).

彼女はすぐ怒った顔をする。
She has a habit of making an angry face right away. (every time something displeasing happens)
OR
(novel-ish style) She immediately makes an angry face. (right now in the flow of the story, as a reaction to something).

compare to:

怒った顔をしている彼女を抱きしめて慰めた。
I’ve embraced and consoled my angry girlfriend. (she already just “has” this expression passively, we are not implying that it just changed to anger).

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#6

It should be mentioned that this is a special case, and している is only stative in this specific usage. It is a progressive verb in almost all other cases (it can also be habitual)

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