The past perfect continuous tense is used to describe actions that began in the past, were in progress up to a specific time in the past, and may or may not have continued beyond that point. It is formed by using the past perfect tense of the auxiliary verb “to have” (e.g. “had been”) and the present participle of the main verb (which ends in “-ing,” such as “eating,” “drinking,” “walking”).
Here are some examples of the past perfect continuous tense:
- “I had been eating breakfast for an hour when you called me at 8 o’clock this morning.” (action that began in the past, was in progress up to a specific time in the past, and may or may not have continued beyond that point)
- “The sun had been rising in the east for an hour when I looked outside at 6 o’clock this morning.” (action that began in the past, was in progress up to a specific time in the past, and may or may not have continued beyond that point)
- “She had been speaking Spanish on the phone with her friend for an hour when I arrived at 7 o’clock this morning.” (action that began in the past, was in progress up to a specific time in the past, and may or may not have continued beyond that point)
In the past perfect continuous tense, the verb “to have” is conjugated to match the subject of the sentence, and the present participle is used to describe the action that had been in progress.
Conjugation Table
Here is a conjugation table for the past perfect continuous tense, showing the verb forms for the subject pronouns “I,” “you,” “he/she/it,” “we,” and “they”:
| Subject pronoun | Verb form (eat) | Verb form (drink) | Verb form (walk) |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | had been eating | had been drinking | had been walking |
| you | had been eating | had been drinking | had been walking |
| he/she/it | had been eating | had been drinking | had been walking |
| we | had been eating | had been drinking | had been walking |
| they | had been eating | had been drinking | had been walking |
As you can see, the verb “to have” is conjugated to match the subject of the sentence, and the present participle is used to describe the action that had been in progress.