I had been learning

English before
starting university
Goals: To talk about activities in your life using Past Perfect Continuous
 PAST PERFECT SIMPLE - REVIEW 4

TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

PAST SIMPLE
Past Perfect Continuous

TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

PAST SIMPLE
 Getting started
We use the Past Perfect Continuous tense to talk about something that started in the
past and continued up to another action or time in the past.

The past perfect continuous tells us 'how long', just like the present perfect continuous,
but this time the action continues up to a point in the past rather than the present.
 We make past perfect continuous like this: CONTRACTIONS

(+) subject + had been+ present participle + complement.

(-) subject + had not been + present participle + complement.
(?) Had + subject + been + present participle + complement?

Infinitive Present
participle • I had been _______ dinner, so I was tired.
cook cooking • Mary had been _________ since last night at office.
Work working • We had been _____________ for 3 hours at the gym.
Exercise exercising • Had you ______________ for the test?
Study studying
 Think about some activities you had been doing
before you celebrated your birthday

TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

PAST SIMPLE
Before I celebrated my birthday,
I had been sending the invitations.
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• Alex was out of breath when she arrived at the class because she ___________________ (run).

• Emma and Matthew ______________ (look) for a country to live after their wedding when they were married.

•
TALKING ABOUT THE PAST
__ Elsa ___________(listen) to her songs until she realized that her songs need to improve?

• ___ he ____ (cook) any meal when she came to my home?

• ___ she _____ (talk) to us since for two days? COMPLETE THE
• ____ she ____ (work) all day? PAST SIMPLE SENTENCES:

• ____ you ____ (finish) your homework before you went to the store with your family?

• I ___________________ (sleep) for three hours when my alarm went off.

• I ___________________ (study) Spanish before I moved to Spain.

• I ___________________ (wait) for 45 minutes when the bus finally arrived.

• I ___________________(not cook) any meal when she came to my home.

• Jessica ________________ (walk) three miles a day before she broke her leg.

• My cousin went to bed after she ________________ (watch) her favorite TV series.

TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

• Ryan _____________ (work) out at the gym every day before he had surgery because of his health
problems.

• She ________________ (clean) the house before she fell asleep.

PAST SIMPLE
• She ________________ (not working) all day so she was energetic.

• Sophia ________________ (study) at the University of California when she got high grades.

• The employees ________________ (achieve) the target before the boss came.

• The ground was covered with snow. It ________________ (snow) heavy for several hours.

• The meeting ________________ (not end) until the CEO interrupted the meeting.

• We ________________ been (feel) well because all we had COVID.

• When her husband came home, the woman ________________ (clean) the house for hours.
 Ex. The baby was crying. He started to cry ten minutes ago.
The baby had been crying for ten minutes.

1. The tap was leaking. It started to leak last week.

__________________________________________________

TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

2. It was snowing. It began to snow last night.
__________________________________________________

3. The children were studying . They started to study an hour ago.

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PAST SIMPLE
4. Willie smoked. He started to smoke when he was a teenager.
__________________________________________________

5. Andrea worked in a bank. She got her bank job last April.
__________________________________________________

6. Mrs. Neville taught French. She started to teach French 15 years ago.
__________________________________________________

7. Sue and Joe were planning their vacation. They started planning last winter.
__________________________________________________

8. The mechanic was fixing my car. He started working on it this morning.

__________________________________________________
 try Mexican food

Had …… before coming here? Had you been trying Mexican food before coming here?
Yes, I had / No, I hadn’t.

prepare a cake walk in snow

ride a motorbike drive a car make a pizza plant a tree

find money on the jump out of a

Climb a mountain street write a love note sing on stage plane meet a celebrity
 Let´s read this conversations and pay
attention to the red sentences.
TALKING ABOUT THE PAST
A: Hi. How was your weekend?

B: Hey, there! It was great! I went to a concert with my girlfriend, Sarah.

A: Nice! Whose concert was it?

PAST SIMPLE
B: Romeo’s concert. By the way, why didn’t you go to the concert?

A: Because when he tickets selling started at midnight I had been working, so I was very tired and I fell

asleep; moreover, tickets were sold out very fast.

B: I see; I had been cleaning my room and I was tired too, so I drank some coffee in order to keep awake.
 Let´s read this conversations and pay
attention to the red sentences.
TALKING ABOUT THE PAST
A: Hi. How was your weekend?

B: Hey, there! It was great! I went to a concert with my girlfriend, Sarah.

A: Nice! Whose concert was it?

PAST SIMPLE
B: Romeo’s concert. By the way, why didn’t you go to the concert?

A: Because when he tickets selling started at midnight I ___________________________, so I was very tired

and I fell asleep; moreover, tickets were sold out very fast.

B: I see; I ____________________________and I was tired too, so I drank some coffee in order to keep awake.
 TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

PAST SIMPLE