I was reading 十人の住人 and saw this line has me a little befuddled where a man and woman are talking on the phone as she says this to him:「とにかくその位置にいて。すぐ行くから、車で来るまで待ってて。」Why are there two て? Does it change the meaning slightly or something?
It is a casual way of saying “待っていて”, which is an imperative of the ている form. So here, it basically means “Keep waiting” instead of “Wait” if “待って” were used.
I hear it a lot in anime.
From the context it’s safe to say that “matte” refers to the present, the instant, while “mattete” refers to the future, or a prolonged wait, as in “keep waiting till i come back”.
When they say this but about the past, like “i have been waiting all this time” they say something like “zutto matteita”, so it is safe to say that “mattete” is an abridged form of “matteite”.
2 comments
It is a casual way of saying “待っていて”, which is an imperative of the ている form. So here, it basically means “Keep waiting” instead of “Wait” if “待って” were used.
I hear it a lot in anime.
From the context it’s safe to say that “matte” refers to the present, the instant, while “mattete” refers to the future, or a prolonged wait, as in “keep waiting till i come back”.
When they say this but about the past, like “i have been waiting all this time” they say something like “zutto matteita”, so it is safe to say that “mattete” is an abridged form of “matteite”.