Learn English Tenses: PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS or PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS?

In this lesson, we will compare two advanced English tenses: the present perfect continuous

tense and the past perfect continuous tense.

So, you will learn the difference between saying, "I have been working" or "I had been

working".

Now, this lesson is part of a series of lessons and classes that help you master the English

verb tenses.

These are all created by www.engvid.com so that you can become really comfortable using

English, and move your English forward, step by step.

Now, I do have individual classes on each of these tenses.

So, perhaps you have watched those and maybe you haven't.

So, either way, if you've watched them, then great.

You can continue to this class.

And if you haven't watched them, that's perfectly fine too.

Watch this lesson and then you can go back and you can learn those or review those in

greater detail.

Okay?

So, either way, it's great.

Shall we begin?

Let's go.

Alright.

So, what do we see about these two tenses?

First, they are similar in some ways.

For example, both of them have the word "continuous" in them, which means they are talking about

some action that continues, okay?

And they're both talking about two different times, but in different ways.

The present perfect continuous links the past and the present.

Okay?

Got that?

The past perfect continuous links the past and the past, alright?

I'm going to show you an example in a minute so you'll get it, but first, let's understand

a little bit of the theory.

The present perfect continuous talks about something that started in the past and it

continues in the present.

The past perfect continuous talks about something that started in the past and continued in

the past.

See that?

Here, we have past and present.

Here, we have past and past.

Let's look at a timeline now and understand exactly what we're talking about here.

So, this is our timeline.

This is the present or now, okay?

Everything before this is the past.

Everything after this is the future.

But, right now, we're interested in this part.

So, if I say, for example, "I have been working all" - sorry - "I have been working hard all

day, so I am tired."

What does that mean?

I started working in the past, and I'm still working now.

So, I have been working hard all day.

I started working in the past, and I'm still working now, and therefore, what?

I am tired now.

Okay?

Let's look at the other side.

Now, in this timeline, again, this is the present.

That's the future, and this is the past.

But now, whatever we're going to say, it doesn't touch the present.

It talks only about two actions in the past.

For example: I had been working hard all day, so I was tired.

Now, I'm telling you that, at some point in the past, doesn't matter when, maybe last

night, maybe yesterday, maybe last week, maybe last year, doesn't matter.

But I had been working hard all day, at that time, from this time to this time, and so

I was tired.

Okay?

So, it's just talking about two things that happened in the past and therefore, the result

was in the past.

This talks about something which happened in the past, and the result is now.

So, this continued and that continued, but this continued from the past into the present.

And this continued from a point in the past to another point in the past.

But it doesn't touch the present.

We're going to understand exactly a little bit more as we look through more examples.

Now, let's look at the structure of these two different continuous tenses.

And remember, both of them can also be called the progressive tenses.

So, this could also be called present perfect progressive.

And this one can also be called past perfect progressive.

These are just two names for the same tense.

So, let's look at the structure of the first one.

For present perfect continuous, we have subject + "have been" or "has been" + the verb + -ing.

For example: I have been working.

You can repeat it after me, if you like.

It helps, it helps you to get used to it.

You have been working.

We have been working.

They have been working.

Then, we have a change.

He has been working.

She has been working.

It has been working.

Okay?

That's the basic structure.

We're using the subject + "have been" or "has been" + the verb, in this case, "work", +

-ing, alright?

That's for positive sentences.

Let's look at a negative example, negative sentence: He has not been working.

Right?

So basically, we're just putting "not".

I have not been working.

He has not been working.

We're just adding "not".

And how do we form the question?

We change the order.

Have you been working?

Have they been working?

Has he been working?

Has she been working?

Okay?

That's basically it.

You need to be able to form the positive sentence, the negative sentence, and the question.

So, that's present perfect continuous.

Now, let's look at our other friend, past perfect continuous.

So, this is a little bit easier, because there's no change.

So, for all of the subjects, you have subject + had been + the verb + -ing, okay?

So, it's a little bit easier.

So, it would sound like this.

Say it after me: I had been working.

You had been working.

We had been working.

They had been working.

He had been working.

She had been working, and It had been working.

Good.

That's the positive.

Now, the negative sentence: He had not been working.

Okay?

Same thing, we're putting "not" in here.

Okay?

There, we see it.

And: She had not been working.

They had not been working.

Okay?

And how do we form the question?

Same thing, we change the order.

Instead of saying, "He had", we say, "Had he been working?"

Had they been working?

Alright?

So, we're changing the order there.

Now, what's important is that, for all of these, we can use contractions.

We can use shortened forms.

I'm not going to go into detail on those in this lesson, but also here, instead of saying,

"I have been working", I could say, "I've been working".

Or, "He's been working".

Here, I could say, "We'd been working", She'd been working, okay?

But again, as I said, I have individual lessons on each of these tenses which you can watch

in case you want the full class on each of these tenses, alright?

But now, I think by this lesson itself, you will have already understood so much, so let's

do some practice.

Now, let's do some practice with both of these tenses.

And I'm sure that after this, you're just going to understand so much better exactly

how to use each of them.

So, let's get started.

Now, in each case, we have two sentences, okay?

For one of them, we need present perfect continuous, and in one of them, we need past perfect continuous.

So, how do you decide?

Remember, present perfect continuous is going to connect the past event to something in

the present.

And past perfect continuous connects the past and the past, alright?

So, keep that in mind as you work through these with me.

So, let's read number one: I _________ (wait) for the food, so I am hungry.

What do you think that will be?

Okay.

Let's read number two, and it might help you.

Number two says: I ________ (wait) for the food, so I was hungry.

Now, let's go back to number one.

Which tense do we need, present perfect continuous or past perfect continuous?

Let's read number one again: I _________ (wait) for the food, so I am hungry.

Okay?

So, "I am hungry" is what?

The present.

So, we want to connect the past to the present.

So, we use which one?

The present perfect continuous.

So, this form will be: I have been waiting for the food, I have been waiting for the

food, so I am hungry right now.

Now, the other one: I ______ (wait) for the food, so I was hungry.

Yesterday, when I was in the restaurant yesterday, not today.

So, this one will be what?

Not "I have been waiting", but past perfect continuous, "I had been waiting".

I had been waiting for the food, so I was hungry.

Okay?

See the difference?

In the first one, "I am hungry".

I'm in the restaurant.

I've been waiting and waiting and I am hungry.

That's now, that's present perfect continuous.

But this one, I'm telling you about something that happened before.

Maybe yesterday, maybe last week.

And I tell you, "I had been waiting for the food for so long, and I was so hungry!"

Okay?

See the difference?

You've got it, and you'll get it as we work through these pairs of sentences.

You'll see the difference, okay?

Number three: He _________ (fly) all night, so he was exhausted.

Number four says: He __________ (fly) all night, so he is exhausted.

So, which one goes where?

Here, the result is in the - this is in the past, and this is in the past.

So, which tense connects the past and the past?

The past perfect continuous.

So, what form do we need here?

"He had been flying all night, so he was exhausted."

Maybe yesterday, maybe last week, whenever.

But this one: He __________ (fly) all night, so he is exhausted.

So, this connects the past and the present, because he is exhausted now.

We need present perfect continuous.

"He has been flying all night, so he is exhausted."

And what does "exhausted" mean?

Exhausted just means very tired, okay?

Say it after me: I'm exhausted.

Okay?

I hope you're not.

I hope you're full of energy, okay?

But this guy is exhausted.

Alright.

Now, let's look at number five and six.

Now, we are going to do the same thing, choose one of those tenses, but we'll take it one

step higher.

We're going to make it a negative sentence, okay?

Let's look at the example: She _____________ (attend) the meetings, so she didn't understand

the project.

Make this part negative, okay?

Number six, same thing: She ____________ (attend) the meetings, so she doesn't understand the

project.

Okay?

Which one has the result in the present, and which one has the result in the past?

Here, we said "so she didn't understand the project".

Result is in the past.

"so she doesn't understand the project", result is in the present.

So, what do we need here?

And make this "attend" negative.

"She hadn't", right, "had not", "been attending", right?

She had not been attending, or she hadn't been attending the meetings, so she didn't

understand the project.

Okay?

Maybe that was last week.

Talking about what happened earlier.

And here, "She hasn't been attending the meetings, so she doesn't understand the project."

Okay?

So, this is past to present, this is past to past.

Are you with me?

Good.

I hope with these sentences, you can see the difference and why sometimes we need the present

perfect continuous and sometimes we need the past perfect continuous.

Let's do a few more so you really get it.

Moving on now.

Let's make number seven and number eight also negative.

Number seven: He ________ (study), so he is not ready for the exam.

Or: He _________ (study), so he was not ready for the exam.

Which one connects to the present, and which one connects to the past?

So, "he is not ready", "he was not ready".

So, this is past and present.

This should be past and past.

How do we do that?

So, "He has not been studying, so he is not ready for the exam."

Now, in the past, "He had not been studying, so he was not ready for the exam."

Okay?

Got that?

Very good.

And to conclude, let's do two positive sentences again in a slightly different way.

"This week", present, "This week, I ___________ (go) to the gym every day."

Or, "Last week, I ________ (go) to the gym every day."

So now, your connection is here.

This week - present.

Last week - past.

So, what would you put here?

This week, I've been really good and what have I been doing?

"I have been going to the gym every day."

Excellent.

Last week was also good.

"Last week, I" - what will it be?

"Had been going to the gym every day."

Okay?

So again, you will know because what are you connecting it to, right?

Are you connecting a past event to the present, or a past action that continued to the past?

So, that's the - those are the points you need to keep in mind when you're trying to

figure out which tense to use, and I hope that this exercise of contrasting the two

difference sentences helps you to see that, okay?

Now, of course, you could make questions from it, right?

Oh, you could say, "Have you been going to the gym every day this week?"

Or, last week, "Really, had you been going to the gym every day?"

Okay?

So, you could also, of course, ask questions.

Now, if you'd like to move forward, which I'm sure you'd like to do, how do we do that?

You can do it in two ways.

One, if you'd like a little more review and you feel like, "I know these tenses, but I

need to know them much better, much more in detail", then go back.

Watch the individual lessons on the present perfect continuous and the past perfect continuous.

I have separate lessons on those.

If you feel, "No, I think I'm good.

I'm ready to move forward."

Then, go forward.

The next tense in our series in the future perfect.

So, go on to watch that one.

And, if you'd like to go forward or backward but do a little more practice on this comparison,

then go to www.engvid.com , where you can do a quiz, a comparison quiz, on this.

Okay?

But one way or the other, feel very proud of yourself.

These are advanced tenses.

They are challenging, but you can get them, and I hope you understood them a little bit

better than when you started to watch this video, alright?

All the best with your English.