〜ていた was doing (past continuous): Meaning & Examples

How 〜ていた works

電話したとき、彼はまだ寝ていた is “When I rang, he was still asleep.” One form covers three jobs — an action in progress at a past moment (雨が降っていた), a state that held then (窓が開いていた), and a habit that has since stopped (毎朝走っていた). English splits those across “was -ing”, “had -ed” and “used to”, which is the whole reason this form feels slippery.

構文こうぶんConstruction

• Verb (て-form) + いた ・ polite 〜ていました

  本を読んでいました。 — I was reading a book.

• A state still standing at a past moment

  着いたとき、店はもう閉まっていた。 — When I arrived, the shop had already closed.

• A habit that has since ended

  学生のころ、毎日走っていました。 — When I was a student, I ran every day.

• Casual contraction 〜てた

  何してたの? — What were you up to?

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

• 閉まっていた is “was closed”, never “was closing”.
• The plain past and 〜ていた are not swappable. 食べた reports that the meal happened; 食べていた puts you inside it, and that is how it so often sets the scene for something that then interrupts.
• For a lapsed habit you need a time frame — 昔, 子供のころ, 学生時代. Without one, 毎日走っていました reads as a description of that particular period rather than a habit.
• In casual speech いた collapses to た: 見てた, 待ってた, 知らなかった. Worth recognising even if you write the full form.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

Set a scene from last night: what you were doing at eight with 〜ていました, what state your room was in, and one thing you used to do as a child but no longer do.

〜ていた (was doing (past continuous)) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

Appears in 6 of 367 texts in our library.