What is Vて+た construction?


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.




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].

