Katta in nagamete itakatta


So, I was trying to make a translation, and I found nagamete itakatta. I
thought it was referring to the te form and the past tense of iru combined,
then there was katta, which I also thought was past tense, so I got really
confused. I looked online, and katta was past tense, so I put it into DeepL
Translate, and it said that katta in itakatta was want? what, give an
explanation please




> 眺めてい **た** かった  
>  [Someone] **wanted** to keep/stay/be watching it.

眺めていたかった is the past form of 眺めてい **たい** , which is the [tai- (or desire)
form](https://thetruejapan.com/tai-form-in-japanese/) of 眺めている. There is no
"past tense of iru" in this sentence; the past marker is used only once at the
end of the sentence.

-たい follows the masu-stem of a verb and conjugates like an i-adjective. Just as the past form of かたい ("hard") is かたかった, the past form of -たい is -たかった.

  * 食べたい。  
I want to eat it.

  * 食べたかった。  
I wanted to eat it.

  * 食べていたい。  
I want to be/keep eating it. (progressive)

  * 食べていたかった。  
I wanted to be/keep eating it.




> 眺めてい **た** かった  
>  [Someone] **wanted** to keep/stay/be watching it.

眺めていたかった is the past form of 眺めてい **たい** , which is the [tai- (or desire)
form](https://thetruejapan.com/tai-form-in-japanese/) of 眺めている. There is no
"past tense of iru" in this sentence; the past marker is used only once at the
end of the sentence.

-たい follows the masu-stem of a verb and conjugates like an i-adjective. Just as the past form of かたい ("hard") is かたかった, the past form of -たい is -たかった.

  * 食べたい。  
I want to eat it.

  * 食べたかった。  
I wanted to eat it.

  * 食べていたい。  
I want to be/keep eating it. (progressive)

  * 食べていたかった。  
I wanted to be/keep eating it.

