Structure
Verb［ている］+ た
Details
Standard
About ていた
To convey that '(A) was happening', or that somebody 'was doing (A)' in Japanese, ていた (or ていました) will be used. ていた is a construction which uses the conjunction particle て, and the ichidan verb いる (to exist), in its past tense form いた.
Sometimes ていた is used to express things that are still ongoing, but the speaker is not sure about, or would like to politely advise the listener about. This is very similar to the way in which English uses '(A) was doing (B)'.
In this example, although the action of 'sitting' is not finished, we can imagine that the speaker is suggesting that 'dad was sitting here, and he still is, but he just went to get a drink'.
The same kind of sentence could be used when the speaker has walked away from where their dad was sitting, and doesn't actually know if he is still sitting there or not.
Related
Examples
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勉強をしていたけど、今は休んでいる。
I was studying but am taking a break right now.
音楽を聴いていたから、電話が聞こえなかった。
Because I was listening to music I couldn't hear the phone.
昨日１時ごろに寝ていた。
Yesterday around one o'clock I was sleeping.
４時間も椅子に座っていたから、お尻が痛い。
I was sitting for as much as four hours, so my butt hurts.
お母さんが帰って来た時私はご飯を作っていた。
When my mom came home I was making food.
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What is Vて+た construction?
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ていた – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (5 in total)
Kurei
As always clear and complete. Thank you very much!
As you inferred the lack of an example that used て+いました was one of the reasons why I thought it may not exist. The other was that I didn’t get any warning about it being too polite.
Then I’ll be less worried the next time I override an answer marked wrong due to a formality mismatch.
I think I got too spoiled by all the “too polite” “more polite” and expected it always.
Also, sorry for making you write all the explanation of the levels of politeness.P.S. I’ll be using these grammar points p...
Howl_UK
On a slightly related note. Can ている also mean ‘will be doing’ (in the future) or can it only mean ‘am doing’ or ‘resultant change has happened and continues to remain in that state’?
i.e. 明日本を読んだりケッキを食べたりしている
Tomorrow I will be doing things like reading a book and eating cake.
Toaster
As for using ～ている to describe future activities, my understanding is that it can be grammatically acceptable. A primary example is
明日何してるの～
Below I have linked a Yahoo answer post on the topic.
Yahoo Chiebukuro
Recently, I have also come across ～ていた expressions that include the particle も (～てもいた). My impression is that the added meaning is most often associated with ‘too/also’ sense of the particle も. Here are some examples.
私はそれを憎むと同時に、愛してもいた Source: https://hinative.com/questions/13728196
そう決意する一方で、途方に暮れてもいた。Source: コンビニ人間
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