ていた【～ていた】

The form ～ていた is the past tense of ～ている. It is formed by conjugating いる into its past form いた. Just like ～ている describes ongoing actions or states in the present, ～ていた describes them in the past.

Ongoing actions in the past

The most common use of ～ていた is to describe an action that was in progress at a particular time in the past. This is equivalent to the English "was doing."

This usage often appears with a time reference or when describing what was happening when something else occurred.

Past states (resulting from an action)

With verbs that describe instantaneous changes, ～ていた expresses a state that existed in the past – just as ～ている does for the present.

Here, the focus is not on the action of opening or getting wet, but on the state that existed at that past time.

Past habits

～ていた can also describe something someone used to do habitually in the past.

Polite form: ～ていました

In polite speech, ～ていた becomes ～ていました.

Shortened form: ～てた

In casual conversation, ～ていた is often shortened to ～てた.