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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2015-12-05T20:14:29.347
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2015-12-07T12:37:56.523
2015-12-06T20:38:53.703
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question
grammar word-choice
嘘ついてたんだ vs 嘘ついたんだ
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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2015-12-05T20:34:55.180
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2015-12-06T13:41:52.183
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answer
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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2015-12-06T20:34:00.443
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answer