The form for past perfect continuous is had been +verb-ing.
Here are some example sentences in the affirmative, negative, question and question word forms.
Hadn’t is the short form of had not. In the affirmative, the short form is I’d been, you’d been, he’d been, etc.
| Affirmative | Negative | Question | Question Words |
|---|---|---|---|
| I had been working. | I hadn't been sleeping well in the heat. | Had I been working long? | Where had I been working? |
| You had been preparing for days. | You hadn't been preparing for long. | Had you been preparing for long? | Why had you been preparing so long? |
| He had been working. | He hadn't been working. | Had he been working long at that time? | Where had he been working? |
| She had been living in London. | She hadn't been living in London long. | Had you been living in London long when we met? | What part of London had you been living in? |
| It had been raining non-stop. | It hadn't been raining until that day. | Had it been raining that day? | How long had it been raining? |
| We had been waiting ages. | We hadn't been waiting long. | Had we been waiting? | Who had been we been waiting with? |
| They had been working together for years. | At that time, they hadn't been working together long. | Had they been working together long? | Where had they been working together? |
If you would like to learn when to use the past perfect continuous tense, please click here.
To practise using the past perfect continuous tense, (affirmative) click below.
To practise using the past perfect continuous (negative) click below,
