〜ていた

About

～ていた is the past form of the continuative ～ている. To form the ～ていた form of a verb, simply change the final る of its ている form to た.

E.g. 食たべる > 食たべている > 食たべていた

Although it is often translated as "was doing X", ～ていた differs in many ways from the way that the continuative "ing" is used in English. For instance, the verb 来くる ("to come") in its ていた form often means "was/is here", rather than "was coming". This is essentially because ている and ていた can describe a "state of being", rather than simply an ongoing action.

For more details, refer to the main lesson.

Summary

• 

  Change ている into ていた to form a verb's past continuative form

• 

  ～ていた is similar to "was -ing" in English, but is quite different in some scenarios, such as with verbs like 来くる, where the ている (and ていた) forms can represent a "state" rather than an "ongoing action"