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I saw this being said in a drama, when A said to B, 嘘ついてたんだ and the translation was "So you lied!".

My question is, why is it 嘘ついてたんだ and not 嘘ついたんだ? Thanks.

Edit: How to tell the difference between the two?

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When someone says 「[嘘]{うそ}ついたんだ。」, s/he is talking about the act which is saying something untrue.

When someone says 「嘘ついてたんだ。」, s/he is talking about the acts which are saying something untrue and keeping it secret for a period of time.

In many cases, 嘘ついてたんだ sounds more guilty than 嘘ついたんだ, although it depends on the context.

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  • Thanks for differentiating between the two, while one is an act and the other are acts over a period of time. That sure erased away my confusion.
    – Himawari
    Dec 6 '15 at 23:08
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嘘をついてたんだ is short for 嘘をついていたんだ. They're using the ている-form which is used for verbs in progress, similar to the english -ing though not exactly the same. Instead of "you lied" (嘘をついた） the meaning becomes "you were lying" or "you've been lying" (all this time)（嘘をついてた）.

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    Not that simple. It is more like "had been lying" or "had lied" vs. a plain "lied". Tenses do not match up very nicely between the two languages.
    – user4032
    Dec 5 '15 at 23:19
  • I'll try to nuance it a bit. thanx :)
    – Aniva
    Dec 6 '15 at 13:36
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    「嘘ついてたんだ。」って言われたら、「騙してたの！？」I've been cheated? て思うかな・・・
    – Chocolate ♦
    Dec 6 '15 at 15:24
  • 簡単な説明だけど、よく分りました。ありがとう
    – Himawari
    Dec 6 '15 at 23:03

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