Is there an “itte(i)ta” topic on Bunpro? Does anyone know about it? Can you help me pls…
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言う ー＞ 言っている ー＞ 言っていた
iu ー＞ itte(i)ru ー＞itte(i)ta
YESS… we are both talking same thing…
and also NO, i dont mean PAST CONTINIOUS tense
i will give you a wonderful example:
(at the park…)
Yukino: “neko ga suki desu.”
Alex: "Hontou? Yukino wa neko ga kirai da to omotte imashita…
Yukino: “Gyaku ni neko ga daisuki desu.”
(next hour…)
Alex’s jealous friend: Anata ga kouen de Yukino to hanashite iru no wo mita. Nani o kusukusu hanashite waratte ita no?
(Just as Alex answers, Friends’ phone rings and He picks up the phone and checks it for a while.)
Alex: Yukino wa neko ga suki da to itte(i)ta.
Alex’s jealous friend: Nan to itta no? Sumimasen, wangiri ga natte node kikoenakatta. Mouichido itte kudasai.
Alex: 「Yukino wa neko ga suki da to itteta」tte itta.
first is: "she told me that blah, blah, blah…
second is: i said that blah, blah, blah…
They are different NOT SAME
I hope I am able to explain what topic I am looking at.
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I still don’t get what you’re looking for. Is this perhaps this: って (日本語能力試験 N5) | 文プロ – 日本語の文法解説 (bunpro.jp)? In both と言っていた and って言った, と and って serve the same function, which is quotation. I can assure you both versions mean the same thing here.
Well okay to be precise not exactly the same since one of them uses ていた and the other uses plain past, but still.
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Dear Sumerechny,
Yukino wa neko ga suki da to itteimashita.
Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte itteita.
Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte itteta.
Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte.
these are all same meaning. Exactly the same meaning.
and, do you think that;
1- she said that “bla bla bla bla bla…” to me.
2- she told me that she is “bla bla bla bla bla…”
Are these two, same meaning???
if it is not,
(And also, please don’t get hung up about the “to” and “tte” and “te” thing as well. All of them have the same function in these types of sentences.)
(yesterday we were talking to my friend Yukino
And today, my mother asks me what I talked about with Yukino.)
what did you talk about with Yukino?
- Kinou, Yukino-san to nani wo hanashita?
(i remember what i talk with her)
She told me that "she loves cats very much."
- Yukino wa neko ga daisuki da tte.
(my mum couldn’t hear what i just said. I always forget that her ears don’t hear well. And she is asking what i said just a while ago)
what did you say…?
- sakki nan te itta?
(And so I repeat what my mother just didn’t hear.)
I said “She told me that she loves cats very much.”
- 「Yukino wa neko ga daisuki da tte」tte itta.
Anyway i mean this:
if i make a quote, i use to itta
to itta or tte itta (both same meaning, it doesn’t matter)
means: i said, she said, they said “bla bla bla”
BUT,
if i make a reported speech, i use to itte(i)ta.
SO, my question is whether there is a topic “tte itte ita” on the Bunpro site. It definitely exists, it’s impossible for it not to exist, but I couldn’t find it.If anyone finds it, I ask that they please let me know.
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if i make a quote, i use to itta
to itta or tte itta (both same meaning, it doesn’t matter)
means: i said, she said, they said “bla bla bla”
BUT,
if i make a reported speech, i use to itte(i)ta.
SO, my question is whether there is a topic “tte itte ita” on the Bunpro site. It definitely exists, it’s impossible for it not to exist, but I couldn’t find it.If anyone finds it, I ask that they please let me know.
So you know exactly what you are asking for. You could have written this at the beginning and spare us the ambiguity and condescension. We’re not telepathists here. There is no といっていた grammar point on Bunpro, because indirect speech does not require ていた.
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Dear Sumerechny,
I re-read what I wrote to make you think that you were underestimated, but I couldn’t understand what you were offended by. If you want, let’s not go down the path that the word “condescension” will lead us to, instead, I would like to apologize to you if I chose the wrong word in English. And while I do not expect you to be telepathists, I would also ask you to keep in mind the fact that I am not a professor of Japanese. My intention was to detail the examples to clarify the issue. In this way, I was hoping to be able to clarify what I was asking and not understanding. Thank you a thousand times for the time you took to read and help me.
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I don’t know whether I should accept what you mentioned as new information. I would like to share with you a video I watched about 2 years ago. What I watched was a slightly longer version, but it still covers what I mean in this video.
# #37 said in Japanese (と言った vs って言ってた)
Yes, I am aware that “tte” is sufficient in indirect speech. She already explained it in this video.
# #38 INFORMAL “said”
However, matters that may not be necessary in speaking can become indispensable in written language, so I do not find it right to think that it is okay to not learn the entire pattern that should be there, just because most people do not use it in daily speech and shorten it by saying “tte”.
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Hmmm now I see. I’ve found this 
What is the difference between “言った” and “言っていた” ? “言った” vs “言っていた” ? | HiNative, where a native pretty much agrees with what is said in the video, but on the other hand I also found this Direct & Indirect speech ＆って ( = tte) – Maggie Sensei where the difference in usage in the provided examples is pretty much the same as the difference between “says/said” and “is/was saying”. Also, at 11:45 Misa says that the past tense is used when someone (which I assume does not necessarily mean only first/second person) just said something: https://youtu.be/TdppYDLXP0E?si=eHMqlnk_zPibgKn6&t=705, which then kinda agrees with Maggie Sensei examples. I have to admit I did not know such a rule existed and maybe it would actually be nice to add it to Bunpro. I actually can’t seem to find a grammar point even for the plain と言う・と言った form. Anyway, thanks for the clarification and no hard feelings.
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When I first wanted to learn Japanese, I read a proverb like this, and I liked it very much:
- 猿も木から転ける.
I realized it had a very deep meaning. It even helped me to stand up and continue on my way in this life. Nice to meet you… 
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This is my first time hearing about this rule too. If I caught that correctly:
~といった is for quoting something the speaker has said
~といっていた is for quoting something someone else said
I also don’t see a mention of this rule in bunpro on と Quotation と (日本語能力試験 N5) | 文プロ – 日本語の文法解説
I think it’s worth having this grammar point being added! I agree
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I was struggling with the romaji lmao 
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I could be way off the mark here, but I’ve never seen this as a hard or fast rule that the plain past is only used to report what the speaker has said.
Rather, there are a few elements that influence which form is chosen.
First, 言った deals with a single utterance, right? If the speaker was talking at length about some topic(s), then 言っていた is more appropriate, similarly, if something was repeated multiple times or said habitually, then you’d still use the continuous past. Essentially, any plurality of utterances would utilize that form.
“He said X” vs “He was saying X and Y” or “He was saying things like that”.
“Dad used to always say that.” “He often said those kind of things, but… (he didn’t mean it)”
Secondly, the speaker’s certainty (or lack thereof) of the validity of the statement has an influence on which form to use, and I think this is essentially what Misa is trying to get at in her explanation.
と言った。 is very matter of fact. If the speaker is relaying something that was just said involving a state of affairs (Tom said he is busy) or an opinion (Susy said she likes cats) it is safe to use と言った since we can assume that the validity of this statement has not changed.
If enough time has passed where the speaker can no longer be certain, then it becomes more appropriate for the speaker to use と言っていた because there is no way for them or the listener to know whether what the other person said is still true. “Sam had said that he wanted to go to China (but I don’t know if they still do…)”
“Tom had said he was busy… (but that was hours ago, maybe things have changed)”
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Dear djcostcosamples,
What I’m talking about is not about “past continuous tense”.
I find it natural that if you are thinking “what?? how so?? is this guy crazy?”
I found it strange when I first encountered it years ago. But that’s just the way it is.
The thing to be aware of here is that “tte itte ita” should not be perceived as “past continuous tense”. Let me try to explain it most clearly by giving a single example.
If you are going to transfer something that someone said (mentioned) to a different person, especially after some time has passed,
that is, if you are going to say “Yukina loves cats (she said so)”.
If you say “Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte itta”, you will not be able to give the meaning you want to give to the sentence.
- Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte.
Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte itteta.
Yukino wa neko ga suki da tte itteita.
Yukino wa neko ga suki da to itte imashita.
All same meaning and correct.
I listed them from top to bottom. ranging from casual everyday language to more distant and formal speech.
Yes, I can understand the surprise and doubt felt by someone who hears this rule for the first time even though he/she has been learning Japanese for so long.
I don’t know if it is in Bunpro, if not, the issue should have been clarified at least with the “additional explanation in the red rectangle” in the examples given in the “details” section of the “to” or “tte” subject.
For those who do not have much time, they can briefly watch the relevant second of the video, the link of which I will give below.
Even watching 1 minute of it will be enough.
minutes 12:24 - 13:24
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Djcostco is right in his explanation we just can’t write “say” as a stative verb in English so he has to write it as continuous. Equally, in Japanese writing と言った is more common (unless it is character dialogue providing hearsay or something). The same rule applies to 思う or any other verb that takes the と particle although with different nuances. During a conversation it can hard to know which nuance to give as a learner but djcostco is right about using と言った to report something just said (instantaneous and not a continuous state).
Also, out of interest, why do you write using romaji?
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For the following reason:
first, it’s easy for me.
Secondly, I do not have a Romaji keyboard, I need to learn how to do it first. I preferably find it easier to write “romaji”. There is no other reason.
And, yes, in casual conversations “to itta” or “tte itta” is the preferred way to use it shortly. However, unless you are a story writer or you are answering the question “what did the parrot just say?”, using “to itta” sounds strange in spoken language.
“To itta” or “tte itta” or “to iimashita” is always used when I convey what I said. But if what I am going to quote is someone else’s sentence and if it is not “I couldn’t hear what he just said”, it is not said as “tte itta”
“tte itteita” is used even if the person I am speaking to is “you”.
Example:
- Person A: “What was I just saying, something got in the way and I forgot.”
- person B: “anata wa ‘bla bla bla’ tte itte(i)ta”.
And better is, many people and also i wish to see “to itte imashita” lesson topic on Bunpro in future. Thats it.
There is only only 1 example with “tte itte imashita” on Bunpro N5 Lesson 6: 9/13 - example sentence 7. And its translation is not clear, it is confusing.
It’s like Hasbro’s “guess who said what to whom” game.
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Yeah, when I say past continuous, I’m just referring to the general -ていた form (I don’t know what else to call it).
To really explain it properly you’d have to start talking about aspects and I don’t wanna bother.
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I’ve never heard of this rule either, so I’m following with interest.
However, I’m a bit baffled that you haven’t gotten used to typing in Japanese. It’s really not hard to add another language’s keyboard. There’s tons of videos on YouTube explaining how to do this on all devices, and it’s stupid easy. You should definitely get into the habit of using a Japanese keyboard.
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Actually you are very correct. There are over 2500 Japanese words that I know the meaning of. However, although I have seen the spelling, or rather the kanji, of many of these words, I do not know how they are read. More precisely, I do not recognize the kanji that I know the pronunciation and meaning of when I see a picture of it.
Actually, my story is as follows:
- I have a lot of time, I have added “learning Japanese” to my hobbies. Maybe I didn’t start with the right order, but I learned a tremendous number of words before I knew a single Japanese grammar rule. I have been using “Tobo Japanese” app on ipad. There is also APP on GooglePlay
- In the end, I somehow started from scratch with “Japanese Ammo Misa” and watched again and again long videos explaining in detail almost all the subjects of the n5 and n4 level.
- However, I saw in the N5 JLPT exam, which I confirmed online, that I have a deficiency in quickly understanding what I listen to.
- Therefore, I first came across the lessons of teacher “Yuta Aoki” by doing research on the internet. And then I became a member of the site “japanesevocabularyshortcut.com”. It includes short daily conversations, from the easiest level to the highest level. Small-sized dialogues mp3/mp4, written paragraphs of the dialogues and nuanced footnotes. Simply put, exactly what I was looking for.
- And finally, I needed a forum site so that I could ask the questions I had learned but was hesitant about. And again, in my research on the internet, I saw that I have 2 alternatives, the first is “Bunpro” and the second is “busu”.
- And thus, I had the opportunity to discuss such issues with you, valued users. This is my story in a nutshell.
- I forgot one thing, and that is: "I regularly watch Japanese anime on Netflix. When used with the “Language Reactor” extension, your Japanese improves tremendously. I definitely recommend you to try it.
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