The Grammaring Guide to English Grammar with Exercises

Past perfect continuous

Form: past perfect continuous

Past perfect continuous for continuous events in the past

Past perfect continuous for habitual actions in the past

Form: past perfect continuous

HAD + BEEN + PRESENT PARTICIPLE (VERB-ING)

The past perfect continuous (also called the past perfect progressive) is formed with had + been (the past participle form of be) + the present participle -ing form of the verb.

Affirmative

Subject

Auxiliary

Verb (present participle)

I

had

been

waiting

for hours.

You

He/She/It

We

You

They

Negative

Subject

Auxiliary 1

not

Auxiliary 2

Verb (present participle)

I

had

not

been

waiting

long.

You

He/She/It

We

You

They

The contracted form hadn't is often used instead of had not in spoken and in informal written language.

Interrogative

(Question word)

Auxiliary 1

Subject

Auxiliary 2

Verb (present participle)

How long

had

I

been

waiting?

you

he/she/it

we

you

they

Related topics:

The forms of the participle

Subject-auxiliary inversion in questions

Past perfect continuous for continuous events in the past

The past perfect continuous tense is used to express that an action started before a point in time in the past and that it was still in progress or it had just stopped. This point can be implied or expressed with a time expression or a clause with a verb in the past simple tense:

It

had been snowing

all night.

By 2005, George

had been living

in Scotland for 20 years.

When I got to her house, she

had been waiting

for hours.

Related topics:

Present perfect continuous with FOR and SINCE

Present perfect continuous for continuous events that have just finished

Future perfect continuous for continuous events in the future

Past perfect continuous for habitual actions in the past

The past perfect continuous is used to express repeated or habitual actions happening over a period of time before a point in time in the past:

I

had been getting up

at five o'clock all week, so on Friday I was completely exhausted.

Related topics:

Present perfect continuous for habitual actions