「ます」 and 「ています」for habitual actions.
こんにちはみんなさん、

What is the difference between these two sentences:

毎朝七時に起きます。
毎朝七時に起きています。

Would one be more preferable? If so which one.

I know that ます is present/future and ています is present continuous, but I am having trouble understanding how they are used in the context of habit/habitual actions.

どうもありがとう、
ソフィー

Question

「ます」 and 「ています」for habitual actions.
こんにちはみんなさん、

What is the difference between these two sentences:

毎朝七時に起きます。
毎朝七時に起きています。

Would one be more preferable? If so which one.

I know that ます is present/future and ています is present continuous, but I am having trouble understanding how they are used in the context of habit/habitual actions.

どうもありがとう、
ソフィー

Answer

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> ます is present/future and ています is present continuous,

First, I don't think so.

I think Japanese verbs are based on the concept of 'ASPECT' , not of 'TENSE'.

>but I am having trouble understanding how they are used in the context of habit/habitual actions.

The trouble like that can happen when you try to understand Japanese verbs with tense concept.

Extremely saying, Japanse verbs has no time/tense, even though it appears to have.

-------------------------------------------
*** ASPECT:

- concept A: "completed, fixed, convinced."
                   vs
- concept B: "not completed, not fixed, not convinced."

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*** 起きます　： The (B) above.

->　起きます can mean 'habit (=what you do usually/always)'
     because 'usually/always' covers the past, present and future.
     Covering all the time also can mean "it is timeless"., ”not fixed at certain point of time".
     So you can apply the concept (B)

-------------------------------------------
*** 起きています　＝ 起き　＋ て　＋　い + ます

て :  This particle indicates the concept (A)
　　　something is fixed.

います　＝　いる:
  The verb いる means "staying for a while", the concept (B).
          (※ if you say "いた", it is the concept (A))

then ています/ている　means "Fixed then continue ( for a while)"

「毎朝七時に起きています」
　　-> The action of "waking up every morning at 7" has been fixed (a short time before in the past) then continue (for a while in the future).

This covers the short period of past, present and future, and can mean "(recent)habit"
  
-------------------------------------------
+++ 毎朝七時に起きます。
  -> long time habit.

「私は毎朝必ず7時に起きます。小学校のときからそうです。私の変わらぬ習慣です」
  The reader can be sure that the speaker will keep waking  up at 7 in the future, maybe as long as the speaker is alive.

+++ 毎朝七時に起きています。
　-> recent habit.

「私は最近、毎朝7時に起きています。早起きは気持ちがいいですね！」
The reader is not sure whether the speaker will  waking  up at 7 a year later.

Answer

These sentence express to repeated act or habit in this case.

毎朝七時に起きます。
毎朝七時に起きています。
So, both are same meaning.
Because we cannot determine if a habit continues from these sentence.

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When we use 'これからも'  instead of '毎朝'.

これからも七時に起きます。（will or make a declaration）
これからも七時に起きています。（×）
second sentence cannot be used.

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When we use '私は'  instead of '毎朝'.

私は七時に起きます。（I get up at 7:00）
私は七時に起きています。（I usually get up at 7：00)
In this case, these sentence can have a different meaning.

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習慣を表現する場合に「～ます」「～ています」の両方使うことができます。
We usually use both 「～ます」and「～ています」to express a custom.