Could the “ていない” in “絶対無理って言ってない？” be interpreted as past?


“絶対無理って言ってない？” from context I would translate it as “didn’t you say it was
impossible?”, but I just can’t wrap my head around the grammar. How would
“って言ってなかった？” or “って言わなかった？” change the meaning?




Depending on the context, the ～ている form can be similar in function to the
present progressive in English, like _" is `[VERB]`ing"_, or it can be
considered as broadly analogous to the nuance in English construction _" have
`[VERB]`ed"_.

Looking at this _" have `[VERB]`ed"_ sense, compare the following translations
of your example phrases:

  * って言っていない → _haven't said / told_ (at the "present" relative to the time of the statement)
  * って言ってなかった → _hadn't said / told_ (at some point in the past; could imply that the speaker may have said or told the other person after that point)
  * って言わなかった → _didn't say / tell_ (at some point in the past; no implication about later action)

The translations above are not guaranteed to apply to all contexts, and are
intended to give you a sense for the differences in nuance as related to
tense, and the time of the statement relative to the time of the action.

