I've been talking with a Japanese exchange student at my college. For 4 years
I've been studying Japanese and we get along just fine most of the time but
sometimes even I get a bit lost.

He's from Kobe so perhaps it's a part of his dialect.

My question is, what does「なにしてたん？」mean? The main thing that confuses me is たん.
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2016-10-08T20:17:06.027
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2016-10-09T02:20:19.127
2016-10-08T23:26:26.513
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question
grammar meaning dialects questions
What does 「なにしてたん？」mean?
何してたん is the same as 何していたの (that is, 'What were you/have you been doing?').
In standard Japanese, の can be contracted to ん in 何してたんだ or 何してたんですか; non-
standard dialects use it more broadly.
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2016-10-08T20:29:46.797
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2016-10-08T20:29:46.797
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> **何をしていたのですか？** : Root
>
> **何をしていたの？** : Drop formal ending.
>
> **何していたの？** : Colloquial drop of particle.
>
> **何してたの？** : Colloquial drop of syllable.
>
> **何してたん？** : Lazy end turns の into ん.
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2016-10-08T22:41:28.190
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2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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It's Kansai dialect. In Kansai, we often end sentences with ん as in:

> [なにしてたん]{LLHHLH}？（なにしてたんだ？/なにしてたの？）What have you been doing?
>
> ～[しててん]{HHLL}。（～してたんだ。/～してたのよ。）I was doing ~~.
>
> ～[してんねん]{HHHLL}。（～してるんだ。/～してるのよ。）I'm doing ~~.
>
> [なにしたん]{LLHLH}？（なにしたんだ？/なにしたの？）What did you do?
>
> ～[してん]{HLL}。（～したんだ。/～したのよ。）I did ~~.
>
> ～[すんねん]{HHLL}。（～するんだよ。/するのよ。）I'll do~~.
>
> [知らんねん]{HHHLL}。（知らないんだ。）I don't know.
>
> [さむいん]{HLLH}？ （寒いの？）Are you cold?
>
> [さむいねん]{HLLLL}。（寒いんだよ。/寒いのよ。）I'm cold.
>
> [ちゃうやん]{HHHLL}。（違うじゃないか。）It's not so, is it?
>
> [ゆうたやん]{HLLLL}。（言ったじゃないか。）I said so, didn't I?
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2016-10-09T02:06:46.377
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