Mirage 先輩 Joined 14 Nov 2003 Messages 31 Reaction score 0 9 Jan 2004 #1 I was practicing te form uses. I came across : 話していたんです。 hanashite itan desu. Which I believe means, "was speaking" I know itan is the past form of iru, but what's the difference between いたんです and いました
I was practicing te form uses. I came across : 話していたんです。 hanashite itan desu. Which I believe means, "was speaking" I know itan is the past form of iru, but what's the difference between いたんです and いました
Glenn 一切皆苦 Joined 8 Jan 2004 Messages 7,842 Reaction score 200 9 Jan 2004 #2 Originally posted by Mirage I was practicing te form uses. I came across : 話していたんです。 hanashite itan desu. Which I believe means, "was speaking" Click to expand... It does indeed mean that. i know itan is the past form of iru, but what's the difference between いたんです and いました Click to expand... Well, in standard Japanese (Tokyo dialect) there is no inflection "itan". What you have here is actually the affirmation suffix のだ. The difference between 話していた and 話していました is merely one of formality, with the latter being more formal.
Originally posted by Mirage I was practicing te form uses. I came across : 話していたんです。 hanashite itan desu. Which I believe means, "was speaking" Click to expand... It does indeed mean that. i know itan is the past form of iru, but what's the difference between いたんです and いました Click to expand... Well, in standard Japanese (Tokyo dialect) there is no inflection "itan". What you have here is actually the affirmation suffix のだ. The difference between 話していた and 話していました is merely one of formality, with the latter being more formal.