Didn't

Question

I didn't know that before you told me.Can 'didn't' in cases like the one above mean a period of time like 20 years etc and not a single event that took place in the past? Thanks.

Grammarfreak · Accepted Answer

"Didn't " is a past marker, regardless whether it is 2 minutes, or 2 years ago.

Whatchadoin · Answer

I thought about a duration in the past.

I didn't know that. (I didn't know that all my life before you told me.) - Here the "didn't" implies a duration from my the day when I was born up until now.

______________

It'd be great to say that I was sleeping with her.
It'd be great to say that I slept with her.

How come that the 'slept' in the second sentence means I only slept with her once?

Grammarfreak · Answer

whatchadoinIt'd be great to say that I was sleeping with her.It'd be great to say that I slept with her.How come that the 'slept' in the second sentence means I only slept with her once?

First of all, your sentences are not the kind I would call idiomatic. Secondly, there is nothing in the sentence that indicated or suggested "once". The only distinction between the two is that one is past progressive vs a simple past, which is completely off-track from the original question. If she is "sleeping around", which is said in the present progressive form, it means she is having perhaps many "one ~~night~~ stands" with guys that she met regularly. It has a continuous connotation as well as a suggested past. For your sentence, I would reword it to " It would be great if I were sleeping with her...", or .....could sleep with her". On that note, I think you could have picked a more appropriate context for your question.

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