The document provides information about the past perfect continuous tense in English. It discusses the structure and uses of the tense. The past perfect continuous expresses an action that was ongoing in the past up until another event interrupted it. It can also show the cause of an event that happened in the past. Some example sentences are given to illustrate the affirmative, negative, and interrogative forms of the past perfect continuous. Activities are included for the learner to practice forming sentences in the tense.

1. PAST PERFECT
MEMBERS:
Janeth Gómez Nidia Vilchis
Daniel Juan Cristian Acevedo
Alelí González Yareli
Ander Román Lizeth Colin

2. Past perfect continuos
Allows you to tell the development
of events and their effects in the
past in a smooth and interesting
way in which the indicative of the
verb "estar" and the verb+ing are
used.
Reminder: The auxiliary
verb to form this verb tense
is had + been

3. Affirmative structure
01
Verb
Auxiliar
(had been)
Verbo +
Ing.
Complemento
The past perfect continuous has three main uses:
01 To talk about an action that was
happening in the past before
another action interrupted it.

4. Examples
The phrase that refers to the interrupting action can
be a phrase or words such as before, antes, when,
cuando, or by the time, para cuando .
Molly had been studying until Hannah came back – Molly había estado
estudiando hasta que Hannah regresó.
I had been playing basketball for five years when I had to quit – (Yo)
había estado jugando a baloncesto durante cinco años cuando tuve que dejarlo
They had been working for six hours by the time he left – (Ellas/os)
habían estado trabajando durante seis horas para cuando él se fue

5. To show cause and effect between
two events that occurred in the past
02
One sentence expresses the effect, and is conjugated in the
simple past, while the other expresses the cause, and is
conjugated in the past perfect continuous. The structure in these
cases is as follows:
Frase en pasado simple (efecto) + because, porque
(conector) + frase en pasado perfecto continuo (causa)

6. Example
•Henry was sick because he had been
sleeping outside – Henry estaba
enfermo porque había estado
fuera.
•They left the beach because the baby
had been eating a lot of sand –
(Ellas/os) se marcharon de la playa
bebé había estado comiendo mucha

7. To emphasize the duration of an
action
03
The verb in gerund indicates an action of prolonged duration in time, and
emphasizes it. For this purpose, the words for (por/durante) and since (desde) are
usually used.
Example
•We had been working for ten hours – (Nosotras/os)
hemos estado trabajando durante diez horas.
•I had been living in this house since 2004 – (Yo) había
estado viviendo en esta casa desde 2004.

8. Negative structure
02
Hand not
been
(hadn’t been)
Verbo +
Ing.
Complemento
To construct the negation in the past perfect continuous, you must place the negative
auxiliary not between the had and the been
EXAMPLE
•We had not been working a lot until she called – (Nosotras/os) no habíamos
estado trabajando mucho hasta que ella llamó.
•I had not been waiting for so long when she arrived – (Yo) no había estado
esperando por tanto tiempo cuando ella llegó.
• I had not [hadn’t] been studying English long when I went to
London.(No había estado estudiando inglés mucho tiempo cuando
fui a Londres.)

9. Interrogative structure
03
Hand
Verbo +
Ing.
Complemento
In the past perfect continuous interrogative, the had opens the question, followed by the
subject and the been.
EXAMPLE
•Had you been studying English for a long time before you visited
New York? – Habías estado estudiando inglés durante mucho
tiempo antes de visitar Nueva York?
•Had they been visiting their neighbours last month? – Habían
ellas/os estado visitando a sus vecinos el mes pasado?
Been ?

10. Had/hadn’t we been walking for an hour? –
No habíamos estado caminando durante una
hora?
If a question is formulated in the negative form, the negative auxiliary not
joins had at the beginning of the sentence. The structure looks like this:
Hand not
(hadn’t )
Been Verbo +
Ing.
Complemento ?
Examples

11. Uses of past perfect continuous in
sentences
There are two uses for the past perfect continuous. Below you can
learn about them with the help of some examples to keep in mind their
possibilities.
1. To express an action that started in the past and went on for some
time until another action interrupted it.
Example:
• She had been reading for seven hours when she fell asleep (Ella había
estado leyendo por siete horas cuando se quedó dormida).
• How long had they been running when they took a break? (¿Cuánto tiempo
habían estado corriendo cuando tomaron un descanso?)

12. 2. Indicate an action in the past that caused another
action, also in the past.
Example:
• I was tired because I had been working all day (Yo estaba cansado porque
había estado trabajando todo el día).
• We were sleepy because we had been dancing all night (Nosotros teníamos
sueño porque habíamos estado bailando toda la noche).
Entender bien el significado de cada tiempo verbal es la clave para usarlo
correctamente. Ahora que el pasado perfecto continuo ya no tiene
secretos para ti, puedes lanzarte a practicar, ¡que es de lo que se trata!
GRACIAS POR SU ATENCIÒN

13. ACTIVITY 1
 Martha had been _______ three miles a day before she broke her leg. (Run)
 They working new website well since 1980.
 They had been ______ for over an hour before Tony arrived. (Talk)
 I a horror movie. (Watch)
 She had been ______ at that company for a year when she met James. (Work)
 My grandfather ______ great until yesterday. (Feel)
 I had been __ basketball for five years when I had to quit. (Play)
 You had been _______in the park (Read)
 We had been _________coffe at school. (Drink)
 Sofia had been _________fencing lessons. (Talk)
INSTRUCTIONS:Complete the following sentences with the past perfect
continuous, affirmative.
Activities

14. 1. Had not / they / been/ speaking /to /each /other / for/ years.
2. They/ had not been / taking/ good /care /of / their /health.
3. Thankfully / l had not been/ smoking / for / a / year / before / I / got / pregnant
4. Hadn’t / I / drinking / alcohol / been / for / a / long / time / either.
5. My / been / dog / hadn’t / sleeping / well / before / he / died.
6. Had / you / been / dating / him / not / for / very / long.
7. Had / that / dog / been / barking / a / lot / in / the / past / few/ weeks / not.
8. They / not / sleeping / late / had / during /the/ summer /been.
9. Had / Marie / not / trying / to / lose / weight / when / been / she /got / sick.
10. We/ had not been / called / until she/ a lot / working
ACTIVITY 2
Order the negative sentences in the past perfect continuos.

15. ACTIVITY 3
Answer T if it is true and F if it is false, according to the sentences
raised.
1. The past perfect continuous expresses an action that was taking place when another interrupted it
…...............
2. It is built with the auxiliary had for all the subjects, plus the past participle of to be, been,
and the main verb in a gerund, ending in -ing.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. It is used to talk about an action that was happening in the present before another action interrupted
it. ……….
4. It is used to show cause and effect between two events that happened in the past.
…………………………………
5. It is used to emphasize the duration of an action.…………………………………………………………………………………………
6. To build the negation in the past perfect continuous you must place the negative
auxiliary not
between the was and the were.
7. In the question in the past perfect continuous, the had begins to open the
question,
followed by the subject and the been.
8. In informal contexts the had + not contracts and forms hadn’t
9. The gerund verb indicates a prolonged space action in verbs, and
highlights it
10. Molly had been studying until Hannah came back. The previous sentence belongs to the negative structure.