言っていました vs 言いました when saying 'someone said ...'

Question

If you wanted to say. 'Keiko said xxx,' why is けいこさんが「ｘｘｘ」と言っていました better than けいこさんが「ｘｘｘ」と言いました?

Thank you, and happy new year!

(Also is は better than が in this instance?)

Answer 1

Basically, which one sounds better (or more proper) depends on the subject of the sentence.

「けいこさん」 is a third person and we would use 「言っていました」. Speaking from the native speaker's perspective, this is like the speaker is "reporting" to the listener(s) the statement that was made by a third person.

It is not totally incorrect to say「けいこさんが「ｘｘｘ」と言いました。」 but it sounds fairly awkward and unnatural. This sentence surely is grammatical if grammar is what matters but it is just not something native speakers would say in natural settings. To me, it sounds "translated".

When the subject is the first or second person, the usual choice is definitely「言いました」. The exceptions are when we retrospectively quote a statement made a long time ago by "me" or "you".

NOTE: What I said above is valid even when the subject of the sentence is not mentioned, which is often the case in Japanese as you know.

Finally, whether we should use が or は would depend on the context. We cannot say which one is better based on this short sentence by itself.