I Swear English › Verb Tenses › Past Perfect Continuous
How to form and use the past perfect continuous
How To Form The Past Perfect Continuous:
Take a subject (I, the people etc) then put the auxiliary verb to have in the past simple (I had..., the people had...) then use the past participle of the verb to be (I had been..., the people had been...) and then use the gerund or present participle of the verb you wish to use (asking, taking). To form negatives put not after the auxiliary had. I had not been asking, the people had not been taking. Notice that this can be contracted to I hadn't been asking, the people hadn't been taking. To make questions change the positions of the subject and the auxiliary verb had. Had I been asking? Had the people been taking? If you wish you can add a question word at the beginning of the sentence. Why had I been asking? What had the people been taking?
The table set out below shows how it works:
| Affirmative | Negative | Interrogative |
|---|---|---|
| I had been asking | I had not been asking | Had I been asking? |
| You had been asking | You had not been asking | Had you been asking? |
| He had been asking | He had not been asking | Had he been asking? |
| She had been asking | She had not been asking | Had she been asking? |
| It had been asking | It had not been asking | Had it been asking? |
| We had been asking | We had not been asking | Had we been asking? |
| You had been asking | You had not been asking | Had you been asking? |
| They had been asking | They had not been asking | Had they been asking? |
The following video explains how to form the past perfect continuous:
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This lesson is part of our free English Verb Tenses course. Work through the series in order, or jump to the tense or structure you need next.