I'm Esther.

In this video, I will introduce the past perfect, continuous tense.

It's a great tense that helps you express an ongoing action in the past, continuing up to another point in the past.

There's a lot to learn, so keep watching.

One usage of the past perfect, continuous tense is to talk about an ongoing action in the past that continued up to another point in the past.

You can use four and a duration to talk about how long that action was in progress.

Here are some examples I had been waiting for the bus for two hours before it arrived.

You'll notice that at the beginning, it doesn't matter what the subject is.

We follow with had been, for example, I had been Chuck had been, and Tom and Kim had been.

And then we follow with the verb i n g.

Waiting.

I had been waiting.

Now this is the ongoing action that happened first again.

Four and two hours shows the duration.

The second part says it arrived.

This verb is in the past simple tense.

Therefore, that is the second action.

It's the action that this first action happened until this action happened.

So again I had been waiting for the bus, have been first, and then it happened until the bus arrived.

Chuck had been cooking again.

That part's easy, no matter what the subject we say had been, and then verb i n g.

Again, I can show how long Chuck had been cooking by saying for an hour, showing the duration.

And then I finished by saying before he finished, he had been cooking up to this point in the past.

Finally, Tom and Kim had been walking.

This part should be familiar to you by now for an hour again that shows duration before they rested.

So they had been walking from for an hour before they took a break before they arrested.

Let's move on.

The past perfect, continuous tense is also used to express cause and effect in the past.

The verb that's in the past perfect, continuous tense shows the cause why something happened.

We can use because, or so to show the cause and effect.

Here, I'll explain.

Jason was tired because he had been jogging.

The first part of the sentence is in the past tense.

Jason Waas tired.

However, we see Why?

Well, because he had been jogging.

The second part of this sentence is, in the past perfect, continuous tense.

He had been remember, no matter what the subject we follow with had been and jogging verb i n g.

He had been jogging.

This shows why Jason was tired.

The next sentence says the pavement or it was wet because it had been raining similar to the first sentence it had been raining shows the cause.

Why was the pavement wet?

The pavement was wet because it had been raining.

In this sentence, we see a little difference.

The Children had been playing again.

This is the past perfect, continuous tense had been playing.

The second part says the room was a mess.

So here, instead of because, like the 1st 2 sentences I used, so so the order has been changed, but the meaning is the same.

This the Children had been playing is why the room was a mess.

This is the cause, and this is the effect.

Let's move on.

Now let's go into the negative form off the past perfect, continuous tense.

Here are some examples I had not been working for a day before I quit.

So no matter what the subject I you she or it just like in the affirmative we say had.

But after the had in the negative form we add not had not had not or you can use the contraction hadn't which is a combination of had and not together I had not been working.

The rest of the sentence is the same.

Been verb i n g.

I had not been working for a day before I quit.

The next sentence says you had not been cutting onions for long before you cried again.

The not goes between had and been.

She hadn't been studying for long when she fell asleep.

Here we have the contraction, and finally, it hadn't been snowing for long when it stopped again.

We have the contraction for had not here.

You'll notice that in the 1st 2 sentences I used before and in the last two I used when either one can be used to show when the first action stopped.

Let's move on.

Now let's go into how to form basic questions in the past.

Perfect, continuous tense.

Here is the first example he had been driving all day before he arrived.

Now to turn this into a question, all we have to do is change the order of the 1st 2 words instead of he had now, I can say had he in order to form a question had he been driving all day before he arrived?

The next sentence says the dog had been barking because it was scared.

In this case, the subject is the dog, and then we follow with had to turn this into a question.

Again, we switch the order.

Had the dog's been barking because it was scared, you'll notice that in the question.

The rest of the words stay in the same place now in the first question were asking how long an action happened or how long it was ongoing in the past.

And then this question, We ask about cause and effect.

Let's move on.

Now I'll introduce how to form W H questions in the past.

Perfect, continuous tense.

Take a look at these examples.

You'll notice that they all start with a W H word.

Why, Where, what and who?

You might also have noticed that after we have had why had where had what had and who had in the first question.

After that comes the subject.

Why had you and then been verb I N g And that's the same pattern we follow for all of the sentences.

So why have you been studying so much?

I can answer by, say, I have been studying so much because I have a test.

Where had you been traveling before you came here?

I can say I have been traveling through Asia.

What have they been playing before?

They played soccer?

I can answer.

They had been playing baseball.

And finally, who had she been talking to before she left home?

I can answer.

She had been talking to her boyfriend.

Let's move on.

Good job learning Another difficult English grammar tense.

The past perfect continuous can be tricky, but with time and practice, you will get better.

English is not always easy, but always do your best and never give up.