PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
The Past Perfect Continuous tense is used to express something that started in the past and continued until another time in the past.

POSITIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAD BEEN	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
You	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
He	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
John	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
The boy	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
She	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
Angel	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
The girl	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
We	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
You	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
They	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.
The children	had been	standing	at the bus stop for thirty minutes.

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS

SUBJECT	HAD NOT BEEN	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
I	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
You	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
He	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
John	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
The boy	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
She	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
Angel	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
The girl	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
We	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
You	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
They	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.
The children	had not been	exercising	at the gymnasium.

INTERROGATIVE STATEMENTS / QUESTIONS

HAD	SUBJECT	BEEN	VERB + ing	REST OF THE SENTENCE
Had	I	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	you	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	he	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	John	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	the boy	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	she	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	Angel	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	the girl	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	we	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	you	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	they	been	waiting	for a long time?
Had	the men	been	waiting	for a long time?

I had been singing

How do we make the Past Perfect Continuous Tense?
The structure of the past perfect continuous tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb HAVE	+	auxiliary verb BE	+	main verb
		conjugated in simple past tense		past participle		present participle
		had		been		base+ing

For negative sentences in the past perfect continuous tense, we insert not after the first auxiliary verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject and first auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the past perfect continuous tense:

	subject	auxiliary verb		auxiliary verb	main verb
+	I	had		been	working.
+	You	had		been	playing	tennis.
-	It	had	not	been	working	well.
-	We	had	not	been	expecting	her.
?	Had	you		been	drinking?
?	Had	they		been	waiting	long?

When speaking with the past perfect continuous tense, we often contract the subject and first auxiliary verb:

I had been	I'd been
you had been	you'd been
he had been she had been it had been	he'd been she'd been it'd been
we had been	we'd been
they had been	they'd been

How do we use the Past Perfect Continuous Tense?
The past perfect continuous tense is like the past perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions in the past before another action in the past. For example:

• Ram started waiting at 9am. I arrived at 11am. When I arrived, Ram had been waiting for two hours.

Ram had been waiting for two hours when I arrived.
past	present	future
Ram starts waiting in past at 9am.
9 11
I arrive in past at 11am.

Here are some more examples:

• John was very tired. He had been running
• I could smell cigarettes. Somebody had been smoking.
• Suddenly, my car poke down. I was not surprised. It had not been running well for a long time.
• Had the pilot been drinking before the crash?

You can sometimes think of the past perfect continuous tense like the present perfect continuous tense, but instead of the time being now the time is past.

past perfect continuous tense		present perfect continuous tense
had | been | doing |					had | been | doing |
past	now	future		past	now	future

For example, imagine that you meet Ram at 11am. Ram says to you:

• "I am angry. I have been waiting for two hours."

Later, you tell your friends:

• "Ram was angry. He had been waiting for two hours."