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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Sign up to join this communityI 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?
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.
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).