Past Perfect Continuous
Lesson 2 of 4 · ~9 minutes

Lesson 2 · Past Perfect Continuous

She had been waiting for an hour

Duration and reason

The Past Perfect Continuous almost always talks about how long something went on before a moment in the past — for (how long) or since (from what point). And the duration often explains why things were the way they were at that moment.

for / since — up to a moment

  • forfor an hour — a period of time up to a moment in the past
  • sincesince morning — a starting point, up to a moment in the past
  • causeThe ground was wet because it had been raining — the duration explains the situation

Word

for + a period
since + a point

Meaning

for an hour, for two weeks — how long it lasted
since morning, since Monday — from what point
Word
Meaning
for + a period
for an hour, for two weeks — how long it lasted
since + a point
since morning, since Monday — from what point

She had been waiting for an hour when he finally arrived.

They had been living in Rome since 2019 when the pandemic started.

The ground was wet because it had been raining all night.

His hands were shaking — he had been carrying heavy boxes for hours.

Where people usually slip

The action itself often doesn't matter any more — what matters is its result at that moment: The ground was wet because it had been raining — the rain may have stopped, but the ground was still wet.

Don't confuse it with a plain past fact that left no trace at that later moment.

In short

  • fora period: for an hour, for two weeks
  • sincea starting point: since morning, since 2019
  • causethe duration explains a past situation
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