Past perfect continuous

Functies van de past perfect continuous

De past perfect continuous komt overeen met de present perfect continuous, maar met verwijzing naar een tijd die eerder is dan 'voorafgaand aan nu'. Net als bij de present perfect continuous, zijn we meer geïnteresseerd in het proces.

Test je kennis

Voorbeelden

Had you been waiting long before the taxi arrived?
We had been trying to open the door for five minutes when Jane found her key.
It had been raining hard for several hours and the streets were very wet.
Her friends had been thinking of calling the police when she walked in.

Deze vorm wordt ook gebruikt in indirecte rede. Het is het equivalent van de past continuous en de present perfect continuous in directe rede:

Jane said, "I have been gardening all afternoon." = Jane said she had been gardening all afternoon.
When the police questioned him, John said, "I was working late in the office that night." = When the police questioned him, John told them he had been working late in the office that night.

Het maken van de past perfect continuous

De past perfect continuous bestaat uit twee elementen - de past perfect van het werkwoord to be (=had been) + het tegenwoordig deelwoord (base+ing).

Onderwerp	had been	werkwoord + ing
I	had been	walking
Bevestigend
She	had been	trying
Ontkennend
She	hadn't been	sleeping
Vragend
Had you	been	eating?
Vragend ontkennend
Hadn't they	been	living?

To buy, past perfect continuous

Bevestigend	Ontkennend	Vragend
I had been buying	I hadn't been buying	Had I been buying?
You had been buying	You hadn't been buying	Had you been buying?
She had been buying	She hadn't been buying	Had she been buying?
We had been buying	We hadn't been buying	Had we been buying?
They had been buying	They hadn't been buying	Had they been buying?