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What's the difference between 感謝している and 感謝する? Looking at http://www.tanos.co.uk/jlpt/skills/vocab/sentences/?vocabid=85961 , I get the impression that for the word 感謝, it is not as simple as one being the continuous tense and the other, the present tense. From the link, it seems that both has the meaning of "I am grateful" (in the state of being grateful), and that means both is in continuous tense rather than present. Sounds to me like 感謝する does not/cannot/will not mean "I will be grateful". A more concrete example:

食べ物に感謝する and　食べ物に感謝している both means "I am grateful for the food". The former cannot mean "I will be grateful for the food" and can only ever mean "I am grateful for the food"

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感謝する is "to thank", and 感謝している is "to have been thankful (since sometime in the past)" or "to be (always) thankful". Use 感謝します when someone just did something for you. Use 感謝しています when someone did something for you in the past and you've been thankful since then. You can say (この)食べ物に感謝します referring to one specific meal in front of you. You can say 食べ物に感謝しています to mean you are always thankful for food.

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  • Just one thing, can 食べ物に感謝 also mean "I will be thankful for the food"? (As in I don't have food now, but will be thankful if someone gives me food)
    – Newbie
    May 28 '20 at 6:47
  • @Newbie In such a situation, you should thank to the giver, not the food :D Usually you can say 食べ物を頂ければ助かります or 食べ物を頂ければありがたいです. Note that 感謝します sounds fairly pompous. It's fine as a prayer to God, but you should not say 感謝します to a person unless you're making a really formal greeting.
    – naruto
    May 28 '20 at 7:22
  • What if I say 「食べ物を頂ければ感謝」. Can this mean "I will be thankful if you gave me food"? Or no one speaks like this?
    – Newbie
    May 28 '20 at 7:37

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