> 昨日雨が降っていた時 **に** 、私は家にいました。
>
> 昨日雨が降っていた時 **は** 、私は家にいました。

How do these two sentences differ in meaning? Thank you.
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2015-12-05T18:42:08.010
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2015-12-05T22:08:52.897
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question
grammar particle-に particle-は
What is the difference between 時に and 時は
I don't think there is really much difference between the two sentences.

昨日雨が降っていた時に " **at** the time it was raining".

昨日雨が降っていた時は " **As for** the time it was raining"

In the second sentence "the time it was raining" is introduced as a topic so
it is expcted that the listener already has some knowledge that this event
happened.

The は in the second sentence could also be seen as a contrastive marker. i.e I
was at home **at the time it was raining** but I was out for the rest of the
time. Either way, I don't think it really changes the meaning in these
examples.

Perhaps a native speaker can see more of a change in nuance.
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2015-12-05T22:03:50.453
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answer