Present Perfect Continuous

The Present Perfect Continuous has a long and scary name. But don't worry! Read on to learn how to use it.

We use the Present Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continues in the present.

Examples:

• He has been painting the house for 5 hours. He's still painting it
• I have been working as a fireman since 1973. I still work as a fireman

Use this tense also to talk about actions that began in the past and have recently stopped.

Examples:

• I have been waiting for you for half an hour! I'm not waiting anymore because you have come
• Look at her eyes! I'm sure she has been crying. She stopped crying when she saw them

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To understand this use better, watch this interactive animation:

Explanation

In this cartoon, you can see a mother asking her son: "What have you been doing?". The boy replies: "Nothing, mum".

• Why is this in Present Perfect Continuous? Click on the button labled "event 1". You can see that the boy is playing a computer game. Now click on the button labeled "event 2". In this scene, someone knocks at the door. It's his mother. In the next scene, she asks him "what have you been doing?". The use of Present Perfect Continuous is correct here because in this last scene Marcus no longer is playing a computer game (he stopped the moment he heard someone knocking at the door). This is exactly use 2 described above.

We use this tense when an action or situation is temporary.

Examples:

• I have been living in Boston for two months.
• I have been working as a waitress for the past week.

To form a sentence in the Present Perfect Continuous, you need:

1. The proper conjugation of the auxiliary verb to have.
2. The auxiliary verb to be in the Past Participle form: "been".
3. The Present Participle of your verb (verb + ing)

1. Auxiliary Verb "to have"

We conjugate the auxiliary verb "to have" the same way we would conjugate the normal verb "to have".

Person	Singular	Plural
First	I have	We have
Second	You have	You have
Third	He/she/it has	They have

As you can see, the third person singular is irregular.

More examples:

• She has never seen my brother.
• Neither of my brothers has ever driven a truck.

2. Auxiliary verb "to be"

The past participle of the verb "to be" is "been". This is also an auxiliary verb, and you must never forget about it

• I have working as a teacher for 10 years.

• I have been working as a teacher for 10 years.

3. The Present Participle

The present participle is of a verb is a verb form that appears with the present tenses. The present participle is formed by adding -ing to the verb.

• talk + ing = talking
• be + ing = being

There are exceptions.

Subject	+	Auxiliary verb	+	Auxiliary verb	+	Verb + ing
e.g. I/a dog etc.		has/have		been		e.g. swimming/talking etc.

Auxiliary verb	+	Subject	+	Auxiliary verb	+	Verb + ing
has/have		e.g. I/a dog etc.		been		e.g. swimming/talking etc.

Subject	+	Auxiliary verb	+	Auxiliary verb	+	Verb + ing
e.g. I/a dog etc.		has not/have not		been		e.g. swimming/talking etc.

Check your understanding!