Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous – the difference and the rules

You also can’t tell the difference between Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous? If your answer is ‘’no’’, then I’m very proud of you, but if you still have some doubts, this article is for you!

Before analyzing the difference between those tenses, let’s talk, in which cases they are used.

• I had studied Japanese before I moved to Tokyo.
• He had washed the dishes when Julia came.
• She had lost her wallet before she came home.

In the examples, there are two actions, and the consequence of the tenses is clear: one action is finished (had studied, had washed, had lost), and it had happened before the other (moved, came) – this is Past Perfect Tense.

She had left when he arrived.

1. Are we speaking about the past? (yes)
2. How many actions have been done in the past? (two)
3. Did those actions happen simultaneously? (no)
4. Has one action happened before the other? (yes)
5. Which action happened first? (she had left)

Past Perfect structure

Affirmative: Subject + had + Ved/3

Interrogative: Had + subject + V ed/3?

Negative: No + subject + had + not + V ed/3

We often use contractions (especially in conversation) in the Past Perfect for the predicate:

1. I had > I’d – After I’d used the phone, I had lunch.
2. He had > He’d / She had > She’d / It had > It’d – It’d happened so quickly, I didn’t understand anything.
3. We had > We’d / You had > You’d /They had > They’d – We’d just come home, when we heard that noise.

The Use of Past Perfect Continuous

And now, let’s look at the examples again:

• I had been dreaming  about  true love for years when I finally met my husband!
• She had been doing her homework before he came.
• We had been eating that delicious pizza when the waiter brought our bill.

What is the similarity between those sentences? We have two actions: firstly, one action happened, and it took some time (it’s important) – had been dreaming, had been doing, had been eating – and then, the other action happened (met, came, brought). So, we see that something (dreaming, doing, eating) had begun in the past and lasted until the other time/action in the past. Here is the duration, and this is so important in every Continuous tense!

They had been swimming in the water for 2hours  when they were rescued. 

1. When did they start swimming? (at 14:00)
2. At what time did they finish to swim? (at 16:00)
3. How much time did they swim? (2 hours)
4. Did they finish swimming, when they were rescued? (yes)

Past Perfect has the same meaning as Past Perfect Continuous, when the main verb in the sentence is stative (a stative or non-continuous verb), and the action in a sentence continues. In this case, even if the first action (started in the past) lasted until the other action in the past, we can’t use Past Perfect Continuous, only Past Perfect!

 = 

I had had that car for 5 years before it broke down. (NOT I had been having).

We felt bad about selling our car because we had owned (NOT had been owing) it for 10 years.

Here is the list of the most useful stative verbs:

Past Perfect Continuous is also used to express the reasons for something in the past:

• I was tired because I had been working a lot.
• Kate gained weight because she had been overeating.
• We missed the plane because we had been waiting our taxi for an hour.

So, what do we have? There are two actions (again), both in the past and connected to one another (one action is the result of the other).

Past Perfect Continuous structure

Affirmative: Subject + had + been +  Ving

Interrogative: Had + subject + been + V ing?

Negative: No + subject + had + not + been + V ing

In this case, contraction is also possible. We use it in the same way as in the Past Perfect.

With these two tenses we can use adverbs (just, ever, never, only, always etc.), but they are usually not necessary for the Past Perfect:

I had only been waiting there for one minute when the bus arrived.

They had (only - ?) had dinner when the concert started.

Wh-questions in these two tenses are formed in the same way:

Wh-question + main question

What had you done before entering the university?

Why had he been waiting for me outside?

Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous: The Similarities and the Differences

Let’s sum it up! Both tenses:

• are used in the past;
• usually are with the two actions in the sentence or with similar markers (when, before etc.);
• have similar abbreviations or adverbs.

BUT:

• one of the actions in Past Perfect is usually finished (the answer – what happened), and in the Past Perfect Continuous – in the process (the answer – how long);
• when the action continues and the main verb is the stative verb, we use Past Perfect (NOT Continuous).

I hope that this article has helped you to figure out about the Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous.

More information can be found here:

• Past Perfect (Green Forest)
• Past perfect (British Council)
• Past perfect continuous (Cambridge Dictionary)

Exercises for practice:

• Grammar Exercises - Past Perfect
• Past Tenses Advanced
• Past perfect simple, past perfect continuous

Good luck!