Past Perfect Continuous

Basic form

Subject + HAD + BEEN + Verb (continuous form)

Quick examples

• The boys had been quarreling for half an hour when we arrived home.
• I had been dating Angelina for 3 years before we got married.
• If it hadn't been raining, we would have gone to the park.
• She told me that she had been working as a teacher for over 40 years.

Use

The Past Perfect Continuous is used to talk about actions or situations that were in progress before some other actions or situations. There are also other uses.

1. Duration of a past action up to a certain point in the past
2. Showing cause of an action or situation
3. Third conditional sentences
4. Reported speech

Use 1: Duration of a Past Action

The main use of the Past Perfect Continuous is to express actions or situations that were in progress before some other actions or situations.

• The boys had been quarreling for half an hour when we arrived home.
• I had been dating Angelina for 3 years before we got married.

Use 2: Showing Cause

Use this tense to show cause of an action or situation in the past.

• John was in a detention because he had been misbehaving.
• The road was wet because it had been raining.
• I had to go on a diet because I had been eating too much sugar.
• Jessica got sunburnt because she had been lying in the sun too long.

Use 3: Third Conditional

Remember that this tense is also used in third conditional sentences.

• If it hadn't been raining, we would have gone to the park.

Use 4: Reported Speech

This tense also appears in Reported speech.

• She said she knew Charlie had been lying to her.