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I came across Vて+た construction in a song I've been listening to:

あなたのその瞳をただ見つめてた

Can someone explain what it means? I've tried looking for it in some grammar books but unfortunately I couldn't find it.

noen palma
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1 Answers1

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The て-form of a verb followed by いた (past tense of いる: to be) indicates the past progressive tense (e.g., 食べていた "I was eating", 飲んでいた "I was drinking"). In spoken Japanese though, the い of いた is usually silent, so it sounds like tabe[teta] and non[deta].

Will
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