Past perfect continuous

What is the past perfect continuous tense?

Past perfect continuous tense of any verb has two parts, one is the past perfect of the verb of “To be” [had been] another is the present participle form [principle verb + ing] of the verb. Here is described how to make and use it.

How to use the past perfect continuous tense?

We use the past perfect continuous to talk about a situation in progress, We can use this tense about a reason of something in the past.

Examples:

• I had been working here for five years.
  
  
• Before I changed jobs, I had been working in this office.
  
  
• It had been raining for few minutes and the streets were wet.
   
• I had been working here since 1999.

• It had been raining since morning.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    Formation of past perfect continuous tense.
  
  
  
  

  Person/number	Affirmative	Interrogative	Negative
  1st person/singular	I had been reading.	Had I been reading?	I had not been reading.
  2nd person/singular	You had been reading.	Had you been reading?	You had not been reading.
  3rd person/singular	He/she had been reading.	Had he/she been reading?	He/she had not been reading.
  1st person/plural	We had been reading.	Had we been reading?	We had not been reading.
  2nd person/plural	You had been reading.	Had you been reading?	You had not been reading.
  3rd person/plural	They had been reading.	Had they been reading?	They had not been reading.