I had been cooking for an hour before I finally ate.

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Past Perfect Continuous

Advanced

After this lesson, you will be able to talk about continuous actions that you have taken in the past, before another event or situation occurred.

Exercise 1

Sentence Practice

I had been teaching English for five years before I quit.
They had been working for fifteen years before resigning.
We had been chatting with each other for two years before we met in person.

Grammar Focus

How to form the Past Perfect Continuous

We form the 'past perfect continuous' tense with:

the past perfect of the verb 'be': had been
the continuous form of the main verb: verb in -ing form

For example: 'teach' becomes 'had been teaching', 'work' becomes 'had been working', and 'chat' becomes 'had been chatting'.

Why use the Past Perfect Continuous

Past Perfect Continuous tells us that an action started and ended in the past.

Past continuous: The children are tired now because they were playing outside all day. (the children were playing outside until now)
Past Perfect Continuous: The children were tired yesterday because they had been playing outside all day. (the children started and stopped playing yesterday.)

Past Perfect Continuous is often used with the duration of the action and the result of the action.

I had been studying English for five years when I moved to Melbourne.
Jane had been swimming for a decade when she won a gold medal at the Olympics.
Our dog had been attending training classes for a month before he finally learned to sit.
The architect had been designing buildings for sixty years before he retired.

Tip

Do not use Past Perfect Continuous with stative verbs, such as 'be', 'like', 'have', 'live', 'know', and 'believe'. These verbs describe a state of the being and not an action, so they do not need the continuous form. For example, "He had been living there since last year" is incorrect. Say instead: "He had lived there since last year.

Exercise 2

Sentence Practice

I had been showing her around the city until she managed to get by on her own.
I had been fixing stuff around the house until I got the money to hire a repairman.
She had been teaching art until she decided to have her own exhibition.
Hadn’t we been meeting regularly until you moved away?
You had been practicing guitar almost every day until you got a job.

Exercise 3

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the blanks with the past perfect continuous form of the verb in parentheses.

Example

We (travel) the world for ten months when we ran out of money. → 'had been traveling'

They (look) for their cat for three days until it suddenly reappeared.

We (wait) at the bus stop for half an hour when the bus finally arrived.

I (be) in the house the whole day, so I wanted to go out for dinner.

He (work) for the same company for ten years when he was laid off.

I (stand) the whole day, so my legs were tired.

It (rain) for a week before the sun finally came out again.

Exercise 4

Sentence Building

Talk about actions that started and ended in the past, using the following words and the past perfect continuous tense.

Example

work, got promoted → "I had been working for five years when I got promoted."

use that computer, bought new computer
learn English, moved to Chicago
write novels, became famous
date each other, got married
sing on the street, was discovered