Past Perfect Continuous: how, when and why to use It

When we prepare for an important presentation for a wh-o-o-ole week before delivering it, we use the Past Perfect Continuous to talk about it. This tense helps clearly convey the duration of an action before another past event. Let’s explore how to use it and when else it might be useful in real life.

Contents

1. What is the Past Perfect Continuous
2. How to form the Past Perfect Continuous: examples
    2.1. Affirmative sentences
    2.2. Interrogative sentences
    2.3. Negative sentences
3. Usage cases
4. Past Perfect Continuous and time markers
5. Stative verbs
6. Past Perfect Continuous vs other narrative tenses
7. Practice exercises
8. FAQs

What is the Past Perfect Continuous

This tense is used to describe an action that had been continuing in the past and was completed before another event or moment. Let’s call it “a memory of a long action in the past”:

• I had been preparing for an important presentation the whole week before delivering it.

This tense also helps highlight the duration of an event and its influence on subsequent events in the past.

• I had been preparing for the presentation the whole week, so I was exhausted by the weekend.

This tense is used less frequently than others, such as the Past Simple or Present Perfect. It is most commonly found in written texts, literature, and formal speech when it is necessary to emphasize the duration of an action before a specific moment in the past.

How to form the Past Perfect Continuous: examples

This tense is formed using the auxiliary verbs “had” and “been”, along with the main verb in the -ing form. This structure helps convey an action that had been ongoing for a certain period before another event in the past.

Affirmative sentences

In affirmative sentences, the auxiliary verb “had” is used, which can be contracted to 'd, followed by “been” and the main verb in the -ing form:

• I had been studying English for three years before I moved to London.
• She’d been working at that company for five years before she got promoted.

Interrogative sentences

To form an interrogative sentence, you need to move the auxiliary verb “had” to the beginning of the sentence:

• Had you been waiting for long before she arrived?
• Had they been playing football for an hour before it started raining?

In special questions and other types of questions starting with wh-words (what, who, where, etc.), “had” comes after the question word:

• Why had she been crying before we met her?

Negative sentences

Negative sentences in this tense indicate that an action did not occur over a certain period before a specific moment in the past. They are formed by adding the word “not” to the auxiliary verb “had”. The contracted form is “hadn’t”:

• I had not been sleeping well before I changed my mattress.
• He hadn’t been eating properly before he started his new diet.

Usage cases

1. When we want to emphasize the duration of an action up to a specific point in the past:

• They had been talking for hours before they realized the time.
• We had been walking for two hours before we reached the village.

2. When the action led to a specific result:

• His hands were dirty because he had been fixing the car.
• Her eyes were red because she had been crying all night.

3. When explaining the cause of side effects in the past:

• She was exhausted because she had been working all day.
• They were sweaty because they had been running for miles.

Past Perfect Continuous and time markers

Sometimes the duration of an action is clear from the situation or context, but usually, there are words indicating a specific period of the action. We can simply say that we were reading before dinner, or we can specify that we were reading for two hours. Therefore, in examples, time markers for Past Perfect Continuous are often used to define the duration of the action. Let’s look at the most common ones:

✓ For:

• I had been reading for two hours before dinner.
• We had been playing football for an hour before it started to rain.

✓ Since:

• She had been working there since 2015 before she changed jobs.
• He had been feeling unwell since morning before he went to the doctor.

✓ Before:

• We had been waiting for an hour before the concert started.
• They had been arguing for a long time before they decided to break up.

✓ Until: 

• He had been studying until midnight before the exam.
• I had been cleaning the house until my guests arrived.

✓ By the time: 

• By the time they arrived, we had been cooking for hours.
• By the time I finished my project, I had been working on it for weeks.

Stative Verbs

Stative Verbs or state verbs are verbs that describe not an action, but a state of the subject, so they are not used in continuous tenses. Therefore, when a sentence requires the use of the Perfect Continuous, but it contains state verbs, the Perfect tense is used instead.

There are many state verbs, which can be divided into several categories:

Examples:

• I had known him since childhood, but after he moved house, we lost the connection.
• She’d preferred coffee until she tried matcha latte.

Past Perfect Continuous vs other narrative tenses

This tense differs from other narrative tenses in its emphasis on duration and its connection to another moment in the past. Let's look at all narrative tenses and compare them.

We can see that the Perfect Continuous tense has quite specific usage compared to other tenses. That is why it is less commonly used. All three conditions must align, which are typical for other tenses:

• Action in the past (Simple);
• Ongoing action (Continuous);
• Action that happened before another action (Perfect).

Here’s the combo — examples of Past Perfect Continuous tense describe an ongoing action up to another moment in the past. So, if you ask whether it's appropriate to use any other tense, in some cases, yes. However, you’ll lose the richness and clarity of the action’s description.

Now you know everything necessary about this tense. If you want to remember this tense for a long time, try to create 3-4 of your own sentences, and also do some practice exercises.

Practice exercises

1. Fill in the examples using Past Perfect Continuous. To see the correct answer, click on the sentence you’re interested in.

2. Choose the correct option. For a hint, click on the corresponding sentence.

FAQs

1. What is the difference between the examples of Past Perfect Continuous and Past Continuous?

The Perfect Continuous describes an action that was happening before another event in the past, while the Continuous tense describes an action that was simply happening at a specific moment in the past.

• She had been reading for two hours before I called her.
• She was reading when I called her.

2. When is it better to use Perfect Continuous instead of Past Perfect?

When the duration of the action is important, not just the fact that it has been completed:

• I had been waiting for an hour when the bus finally arrived.
• I had caught a bus before you ordered a taxi.

3. Can Perfect Continuous be used without time markers?

Yes, if the context clearly indicates the sequence of events. Time markers are not mandatory; they just clarify the duration of the action and other details.

• I had been working (all day), and I was exhausted.

We can say that we worked and then were tired without specifying how long the action lasted. But if we specify that we worked all day, it adds more detail regarding the duration.

4. Can the Perfect Continuous be replaced with Past Simple?

Sometimes yes, but in that case, the information about the duration of the action is lost. Past Simple reflects a completed action in the past. This tense is simpler to use, and it will sound less vivid as well.

• I worked all day, and I was tired.