言っていた Conjugation

I tried to find this answer in other questions in order to not duplicate it, but i couldn't find one answer for that.

So I was trying to make the following sentence

There's a ramen restaurant in my town. My friend said that there it is delicious, so I want to go there.

People on hellotalk helped to make my sentence more natural, like changing レストラン　for 屋, and the sentence came out like this:

僕の街にラーメン屋があります。僕の友達がおいしいと言っていたので、そのラーメン屋に行きたい。

I understood the whole sentence but one part "言っていた" this is supposed to mean that my friend told me something right. I just don't get the whole "verb te form+いた".

Can you help me with that? Thanks in advance.

Answer

"verb te form + いた"

～ていた has several meanings/usages, which include:

• 
  

  A continuous action in the past (Past progressive tense) -- for action verbs

  
  

  
  

  
  
  • 彼が来たとき、私はテレビを見ていた。I was watching TV when he came.
  
  
  • そのころ、私はピアノを弾いていた。I was playing piano around that time.
  
  
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  A state in the past -- for verbs that describe changes in state, eg 死ぬ, 知る, 持つ, 結婚する etc.

  
  

  
  

  
  
  • 彼は死んでいた。 He was dead.
    (Not "He was dying." 彼は死んだ would be "He died.")
  
  
  • 彼は車を持っていた。 He had a car.
    
    (He was in the state of having a car, not in the middle of the action of having a car. 車を持った would indicate the action of having/getting a car.)
  
  
  • 彼女は結婚していた。 She was married.
    (彼女は結婚した would be "She got married.")
  
  

  
  

  
  


• 
  

  An action that occurred before another action occurred in the past (Something similar to the past perfect tense in English)

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  • 駅に着くと、もう電車は出発していた。
    The train had already left when I got to the station.
  
  
  • 彼が来たときには、私は宿題を終えていた。
    I had finished my homework when / by the time he came.
  
  
  • パーティはすでに始まっていた。
    The party had already begun.
  
  

  
  

  
  

And, in your example:

• In reported speech (especially in conversation) -- When you tell someone what another person has said to you.
  

  
  

  
  
  • 山田さんは、東京に行くと言っていたよ。(≂ 行くそうだよ。)
    Yamada-san said / I heard Yamada-san say that he was going to Tokyo.
    (rather than 山田さんは、東京に行くと言ったよ。)　
  
  
  • 彼はなんと言っていましたか？ -- 今日は来ないと言っていました。(≂ 来ないそうです。)
    What did he say? -- He said he would not come today.
    
    (rather than 彼はなんと言いましたか？ -- 今日は来ないと言いました。)
  
  
  • ニュースで、大きな地震があったって言ってたよ。
    I heard on TV news that there was a big earthquake.
  
  

  
  

  
  

---

僕の街にラーメン屋があります。僕の友達がおいしいと言っていたので、そのラーメン屋に行きたい。

Here, おいしいと言っていたので is more natural than おいしいと言ったので, since it's reported speech. This is like "I heard my friend say..." or "My friend told me..."

I think it'd be even more natural to say it this way:

僕の街にはラーメン屋があります。(僕の)友達がおいしいと言っていたので、そのラーメン屋に行きたいです。

• Add the topical は. 「僕の街には～～」


• Leave out the second 僕の. It's obvious whose friend you're talking about here.


• Add です at the end, since you used polite あります in the first sentence.



• 
  

  Alternatively, you could say 行きたいと思っています。 or 行ってみたいです。