How do we make the past perfect continuous tense in English?
Note: This is also called the past perfect progressive tense.
Positive form
Use the past perfect of be (had been) and the verb-ing form.
| Full form | Short form |
| I had been playing | I’d been playing |
| you had been playing | you’d been playing |
| he had been playing | he’d been playing |
| she had been playing | she’d been playing |
| it had been playing | it’d been playing |
| we had been playing | we’d been playing |
| they had been playing | they’d been playing |
For example:
- I had been living in Sydney since March that year.
- He’d been staying at a hotel for weeks before he found an apartment.
- They’d been cooking all day when I arrived.
Some notes on short forms:
1. We usually contract had with personal pronouns in speaking and informal writing: I’d, you’d, he’d, etc.
2. We usually contract had with the words that, this, those and these in speaking, and sometimes in informal writing: that’d, those’d, etc.
3. We often contract had with nouns and other words in speaking, but not in writing. For example, we do not usually write: Jane’d, the dog’d, nobody’d, etc.
4. We do not usually contract verbs in writing if we have a compound subject: Jane and I’d.
Negative form
Put not between had and been.
| Full form | Short forms | |
| I had not been playing | I hadn’t been playing | *I’d not been playing |
| you had not been playing | you hadn’t been playing | you’d not been playing |
| he had not been playing | he hadn’t been playing | he’d not been playing |
| she had not been playing | she hadn’t been playing | she’d not been playing |
| it had not been playing | it hadn’t been playing | it’d not been playing |
| we had not been playing | we hadn’t been playing | we’d not been playing |
| they had not been playing | they hadn’t been playing | they’d not been playing |
*The structure in the third column is sometimes used in British English, but it is rarely used in other varieties of English. When used in other varieties, it sounds quite formal.
For example:
- You had not been listening to the teacher.
- She had not been studying every day.
- The computer hadn’t been working well, so we drew the design by hand.
(it hadn’t been working) - We hadn’t been going out much.
- They’d not been answering the phone.
Question forms
Invert the subject and had, and then put a question word (what, who, etc.) at the beginning for wh- questions.
| Yes/No questions | |
| Had I been playing? | |
| Had you been playing? | |
| Had he been playing? | |
| Had she been playing? | |
| Had it been playing? | |
| Had we been playing? | |
| Had they been playing? | |
| Wh- questions | |
| What Who Where When Why How etc. | had I been playing? |
| had you been playing? | |
| had he been playing? | |
| had she been playing? | |
| had it been playing? | |
| had we been playing? | |
| had they been playing? | |
For example:
- Had I been worrying too much?
- Had it been snowing before we woke up?
- What had you been doing all day?
- Where had he been living before that?
- How long had we been waiting?
Short answers
| Positive | Negative | |
| Yes, I had. | No, I hadn’t. | *No, I’d not. |
| Yes, you had. | No, you hadn’t. | No, you’d not. |
| Yes, he had. | No, he hadn’t. | No, he’d not. |
| Yes, she had. | No, she hadn’t. | No, she’d not. |
| Yes, it had. | No, it hadn’t. | No, it’d not. |
| Yes, we had. | No, we hadn’t. | No, we’d not. |
| Yes, they had. | No, they hadn’t. | No, they’d not. |
*The structure in the third column is sometimes used in British English, but it is rarely used in other varieties of English. When used in other varieties, it sounds quite formal.
Notes:
1. We do not use short forms in positive short answers.
2. We sometimes use full forms in negative short answers (e.g. No, I had not.), but this is rare and mainly used in very formal contexts or for emphasis.