59849
Can you help me understand/correct my understanding of the particles from this
sentence?

> 私はその人を常 **に** 先生 **と** 呼ん **でいた** 。

So literally this means "I + that man/person + always + sensei + call"?

  1. Is it "I have always called that man Sensei"?
  2. What does に serve as in this sentence? 
  3. What does と serve as in this sentence?
  4. What's でいた?

Thanks!!
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-02T12:50:05.280
59841
2018-07-03T23:41:20.700
2018-07-03T23:41:20.700
9831
30478
question
conjugations particle-に particle-と
What are the uses of に and と in this sentence?
I think your translation is roughly correct but there appear to have been some
misunderstanding of the grammar:

  * に is not a particle in this case: it is used for making 常{つね}に an adverb.

  * と has several uses as a particle (in addition to being “and”): It can be used when an action is done “with” a person where it would be used like 先生{せんせい}と食{た}べた “I ate _with_ [my] teacher”. It is also used to mark quotes as for ~と言{い}う “I say that...” and ~と思{おも}う “I think that...”. I’m not familiar with this verb but と could also be marking a quote here.

  * いた is the plain-past form of いる／います “to exist” (animate) objects. It it used with the て-form of verbs (some verbs use で) for ongoing (present participle) or habitual (regularly occurring) actions. In this case it is a habitual action performed in the past.

> 私{わたし}はその人{その}を常{つね}に先生{せんせい}と呼{よ}んでいた。
>
> I used to always call that person “my teacher/mentor” (regularly)

_While there are some good grammatical examples in this sentence, many of
these have been covered in previous questions. Please use more specific
grammatical questions in the future._
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-03T00:50:46.773
59849
2018-07-03T06:43:50.673
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
14608
59841
answer