A question about a verb I don't understand

住んでいました - Sunde imashita

jisho.org tells me:

"住んでいました looks like an inflection of 住む, with these forms: Te-iru-form. It
indicates an action that is ongoing. Masu-form. It is the polite form of the
verb. Ta-form. It indicates the past tense of the verb."

so I tried this:

住む - sumu - to live

it ends with -mu so it becomes: 住んで - sunde (te form)

and this is as far as I go because I can't seem to understand this part: いました

Could you tell me how that part is formed and the logic behind it ?

Thanks
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-23T16:54:44.830
25888
2015-07-24T12:52:28.157
question
grammar verbs
Need help understanding 住んでいました
The て(で) + いる(form) is not only used for ongoing actions. It also indicates
states, as being married or possessing something:

> けっこんしています
>
> 車{くるま}をもっている

In the situation of your question, it indicates that the person used to live
somewhere (a past state).
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-23T17:13:53.497
25889
2015-07-23T19:17:31.113
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
-1
10707
25888
answer
The -ている, is as you quoted jisho.org, is used to mean it is an ongoing action
or a state. That being said, when いる is conjugated to the past (いました), you are
indicating that it _was_ ongoing (or in the case of states, was the state of
being) in the past.

As 住んでいる{すんでいる}, it would mean you are currently living (in a location).  
Ex: 私{わたし}はニューヨークに住んでいます. I am living in New York.

As 住んでいた, it would mean you lived/had been living (in a location).  
Ex: 私はニューヨークに住んでいました. I lived in New York.

If you said 住みました I believe it still means "I lived" but I can't find an
example of that usage, and from what I have been told it is wrong to use it.
That's where the -ている form comes in, indicating that you _were_ living in a
location for a period of time, and in English it would be your _state of
being_.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-07-23T17:15:29.023
25890
2015-07-24T12:52:28.157
2015-07-24T12:52:28.157
7417
7417
25888
answer