Past perfect or past perfect continuous?

Why do we use the past perfect and past perfect continuous?

Use them when you have two verbs and want to show which one happened first.

• Past perfect and past perfect continuous both happened before past simple.
• Past perfect – for completed actions or when you talk about “how many”
• Past perfect continuous – for ongoing actions or when you talk about “how long”

How to make a past perfect sentence

Past perfect
Subject	Had	Past participle	object
I	had	eaten	breakfast.
She	had	taken	the car.
They	had	seen	the movie.

Example:

The cat wasn’t hungry because he had eaten six pizzas for lunch.

Past simple – The cat wasn’t hungry

Past perfect – he had eaten six pizzas

Both actions happened in the past, but we want to say “eat” happened first.

He ate 6 pizzas first, then he felt tired.

“Eat 6 pizzas” is a completed action in this sentence, so we use past perfect.

Past perfect happened before past simple.

How to make a past perfect continuous sentence

Past perfect continuous
Subject	Had	been	verb + ing
I	had	been	running.
She	had	been	working.
They	had	been	eating.

Examples:

He was tired because he had been exercising for a long time.

Past simple – He was tired

Past perfect continuous – he had been exercising

Both actions happened in the past, but we want to say “exercise” happened first.

He exercised first, then he felt tired.

“Exercise” is an action, so we should use past perfect continuous.

Past perfect continuous happened before past simple.

State verbs

State verbs in English are unusual, because we don’t normally use them in continuous tenses.

Most state verbs are related to your opinions or thinking, for example:

• like
• love
• know
• understand
• dislike

This is a useful list of common state verbs in English.

Past perfect or past perfect continuous practice exercises

Choose past perfect or past perfect continuous to complete these sentences.

To make it easier:

• if the sentence talks about “how many” – use past perfect
• if the sentence talks about “how long” – use past perfect continuous
• if the sentence talks about a finished action before past simple, use past perfect
• if the sentence talks about an ongoing action before past simple, use past perfect continuous

Check your answers at the bottom of the page. Good luck!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Answers:

1	had been working	Because we’re talking about “how long”
2	had finished	Because we’re talking about a result (finished!)
3	had been looking	Because we’re talking about an ongoing action
4	had walked	Because we’re talking about “how many times”
5	had known	Because “know” is a state verb, so we don’t use a continuous tense

Do you feel better about using the past perfect and past perfect continuous?

Leave a comment or ask a question below if you’re not sure. Asking questions is the best way to improve!

While you’re here, check out the difference between past simple and past continuous. When you’ve mastered the difference between these tenses, your English story-telling skills will be at an EXPERT level!

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