Oh wow - thanks! The perfective is something I didn’t study before I went, and I learned it from primarily hearing it in the negative (e.g. 宿題をまだやっていない？！ - mom to her kids). So, I was kind of familiar with the perfective but this crystalized it for me. I didn’t know the 言っている nuances either.
Japanese is harder/easier than other languages in what ways?
I want something to say when my other language-learning friends talk about how hard/easy XYZ language is....
Help me to better grasp ～ていた and ～た
For durative verbs this is quite easy for me to grasp:...