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In Chapter 3 of Yotsuba-to, Yotsuba wakes up and finds a picture of herself,
that Fuuka drew and left there while she was sleeping. Yotsuba exclaims:
「ふーかがよつばかいてくれてた!」

Any natural-sounding English translation would use regular past-tense here:
"Fuuka **drew** this for me!" An English sentence like "Fuuka **was drawing**
this for me!" would sound odd, unless they were inquiring specifically about
what Fuuka was doing earlier (which they weren't).

So my question is, what nuance is conveyed by using 「くれて(い)た」 here, instead of
「くれた」? Would 「くれた」 change the meaning at all?
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2023-02-22T22:36:02.260
98683
2023-02-22T23:38:19.967
4382
question
grammar nuances て-form tense
「かいてくれていた」- Does it have to mean "was drawing"?
It is not progressive but perfect aspect. So a translation could be _Fuuka has
drawn [done the favor of drawing] me(Yotsuba)_.

Similar examples may help understand.

  * 目が覚めると日がすっかり昇っていた When I woke up, the sun had risen completely.
  * 家に帰ると妻が夕食を用意してくれていた When I came home, my wife had prepared dinner.

The second one can be progressive (my wife was preparing dinner), but for the
particular example of Yotsuba&, it refers to the past act of drawing Yotsuba
by Fuuka and hence unambiguous.
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2023-02-22T23:38:19.967
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2023-02-22T23:38:19.967
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answer