Past Perfect Continuous

Past Perfect Continuous

Sometimes called Past Perfect Progressive, the Past Perfect Continuous is one of the Verb Tenses associated with the Past Tense in English.

We use Past Perfect Continuous to express that an action started in the past and has continued up to a moment in the past. It emphasizes duration and the amount of time that an action had been taking place.

Quick Example

• You had been studying English for three hours when I arrived.
• You had not been studying English for three hours when I arrived.
• Had you been studying English for three hours when I arrived?

Form

*Present Participle: the form of a verb ending in -ing (infinitive + -ing), (verb + -ing).

Common Signal Words

• When
• Since (since Monday, since last month)
• For (for two hours, for two months, for ten years)
• How long…
• All day
• Before

Use

The Past Perfect Continuous is a verb tense used to express:

1. An action that started in the past and has continued up to a moment in the Past.
2. Cause of an action or something in the Past.
3. How long…

1. An action that started in the past and has continued up to a moment in the Past

• I had been studying for two hours when she arrived.
• They had been studying for over a week when they finally took the exam.
• He had been working on that presentation for three hours when he finally finished it.
• He had been working at that company for five years when he retired.
• What had John been doing the entire week before Christmas?
• I had been reading this book for over an hour when the alarm clock went off.
• He had been working for Company XYZ for two years before it went out of business.

2. Cause of an action or something in the Past

• You passed the test because you had been studying a lot lately.
• You lost weight because you had been going to the gym.
• He failed the health exam because he hadn’t been exercising at all.
• I left my company because they had been monitoring my Internet usage.

3. How long…

• How long had you been studying English when you finally moved to Canada?
• Mary, how long had you been dating John when you married him?
• How long had you been working at Company XYZ when you retired?
• Wow, how long had they been living in Italy before they moved to Spain?
• How long had you been waiting before she arrived?

NOTE:
We usually do not use Past Perfect Continuous with Non Action Verbs.

Examples

Past Perfect Continuous using Work (Regular Verb)

Past Perfect Continuous using Go (Irregular Verb)

Past Perfect Continuous using Study (Regular Verb)

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