ほしいと。。。言っています、言っていました、言いました

[thesuker]

I'm learning about ほしい and I'm at the point where the book explains that to talk about another person's point of view, we can use ほしいと言っています. I'm guessing 言っています is used here in the 'express the result of an action' form, rather the 'continuous action' one. If so, what result of saying something does it express? The fact that I know what he said? Intuitively, I kind of get why it's used, but having something to grasp the 'why' better would be nice.

My other question is whether there's any difference between using ほしいと言っています, ほしいと言いました and ほしいと言っていました. And if there is a difference, what is it?

 

[Mike Cash]

Not what you asked about, but an important construction to learn in conjunction with this is +がる, meaning "to give the appearance of xxx".

You can use the construction you asked about only when you know what the other person wants (because they expressed it). You use +がる when you are guessing/assuming what the other person wants based on their actions/appearance (non-verbal information).

Examples:

妹はどこか行きたいと言っている
妹はどこか行きたがっている

友達は誕生日だからプレゼントが欲しいと言っている
友達誕生日だからプレゼントを欲しがっている

父はお金を出したくないと言っている
父はお金を出したがらない

It and ＋欲しい are very useful constructions for expanding the range of ideas you can express in Japanese, as they are very widely used. One thing to keep in mind is that in certain situations politeness may call for the use of the giving/receiving verbs in place of 欲しい.

 

[Toritoribe]

I'm learning about ほしい and I'm at the point where the book explains that to talk about another person's point of view, we can use ほしいと言っています. I'm guessing 言っています is used here in the 'express the result of an action' form, rather the 'continuous action' one. If so, what result of saying something does it express? The fact that I know what he said? Intuitively, I kind of get why it's used, but having something to grasp the 'why' better would be nice.

My other question is whether there's any difference between using ほしいと言っています, ほしいと言いました and ほしいと言っていました. And if there is a difference, what is it?

～と言っています
has said now
says constantly/repeatedly

～と言いました
has said now
said in the past

～と言っていました
said in the past
said constantly/repeatedly in the past

https://jref.com/threads/1つ質問がありますが.56701/

 

[thesuker]

Thanks a lot for both replies, they've been very helpful.