58254
Context: girl breaks up with guy, he gets sad and says this line

私だけがあなたの特別でいられたのに!

why is the passive/potential form used here? is it possible to use only the
past simple with た here? I'm not sure how to make any sense out of the
sentence in the passive/potential form
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-30T00:13:50.610
58242
2018-04-30T16:29:52.527
2018-04-30T00:39:08.097
27578
27578
question
grammar meaning passive-voice
the passive/potential form used in this sentence
This いられた clearly has a potential meaning.

>   * 私だけがあなたの特別でいた。 Only I was being your special person.
>   * 私だけがあなたの特別でいられた。 Only I could be your special person.
>

So 私 used the potential form simply because she wanted to be the guy's
"special".
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-04-30T10:27:38.113
58254
2018-04-30T16:29:52.527
2018-04-30T16:29:52.527
5010
5010
58242
answer