Present Perfect Continuous
Learn to use the Present Perfect Continuous in English to use it naturally and download the explanation in PDF for free to study offline.
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The Present Perfect Continuous in English is a relatively common tense at upper-intermediate and advanced levels.
Therefore, if you are at that stage, this post is for you. Pay attention because I am going to explain exactly how to form the Present Perfect Continuous in English and when and how to use it.
How to form the Present Perfect Continuous
The Present Perfect Continuous in English is formed like this:
| have/has been (aux. v.) + doing (present participle) |
The Present Perfect Continuous is a compound tense, or very compound, as I like to say when it consists of at least 3 words (have/has + been + doing).
Take note of this:
- As it is a continuous tense, we have the verb to be and a verb ending in -ing (present participle).
- As it is a perfect tense, we have to conjugate the verb to be in its perfect form with the past participle.
- As it is present, it must be have/has been, that is:
- Verb to be as an auxiliary: have/has been (conjugated in the present perfect)
- Main verb: doing (any verb as a present participle)
| PRO TIP In case you didn’t know, the present participle of a verb is its -ing form. We commonly refer to the -ing form as a gerund, but if we want to be grammar nazis, we should know that we only call it a gerund when it acts as a noun. And that is not the case here. |
Present Perfect Continuous: affirmative sentences
Affirmative sentences in the Present Perfect Continuous are constructed with have/has been and the present participle of the main verb. Let’s look at some example sentences:
We have been cleaning the house all day.
She has been crying about this since she came back.
Richard has been calling you non-stop.
The police have been looking for him through the night.
By the way, bear in mind that, just like with the Present Perfect Simple, you can abbreviate both have and has as follows:
- have → ‘ve
- has → ‘s
| FULL FORM | SHORT FORM |
| We have been cleaning the house all day. | We’ve been cleaning the house all day. |
| She has been crying about this since she came back. | She’s been crying about this since she came back. |
| Richard has been calling you non-stop. | Richard’s been calling you non-stop. |
| They have been looking for him through the night. | They’ve been looking for him through the night.* |
| PRO TIP You might be wondering how to differentiate the ‘s of has from that of is in the present simple or the present continuous. Well, it’s very easy: If it is the main verb, is followed by v-ing, or is in the passive voice, it is is. If it is followed by a past participle and it is an active sentence, it is has. For example: He’s been crying all morning. → He has been (active and followed by a participle)He’s a bit silly. → He is (main verb) |
Present Perfect Continuous: negative sentences
As is standard with all English tenses, the negative form of the Present Perfect Continuous is formed by adding not to the auxiliary verb.
In this case, as it is a… very compound tense, the not is added to the first auxiliary, which is have/has, resulting in the following form:
| have/has NOT been (aux. v.) + doing (present participle) |
Let’s see how the previous sentences change from their affirmative to their negative form:
| AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCES | NEGATIVE SENTENCES |
| We have been cleaning the house all day. | We have not been cleaning the house all day. |
| She has been crying about this since she came back. | She has not been crying about this since she came back. |
| Richard has been calling you non-stop. | Richard has not been calling you non-stop. |
| They have been looking for him through the night. | They have not been looking for him through the night. |
And, once again, the verb can also be contracted with the negative particle not:
| NEGATIVE FORM | CONTRACTED NEGATIVE FORM |
| We have not moved abroad. | We haven’t been cleaning the house all day. |
| I have not been in town all morning. | She hasn’t been crying about this since she came back. |
| Stewie has not read ten books this year. | Richard hasn’t been calling you non-stop. |
| Ron has recently not visited his sister. | They haven’t been looking for him through the night. |
In the case of negative sentences, we can choose to contract the verb with the subject (We’ve not been cleaning) or with the negative particle (We haven’t been cleaning).
Present Perfect Continuous: interrogative sentences (questions)
As always in English, to build the interrogative form of the Present Perfect Continuous, we simply have to invert the first part of the auxiliary verb (have/has) and the subject, as follows:
| (Wh-) + have/has (aux. v) + subject + been doing (past part. + present part.) |
Let’s look at some examples of questions in the Present Perfect Continuous:
| STATEMENTS | QUESTIONS |
| We have been cleaning the house all day. | Have you been cleaning the house all day? |
| She has been crying about this since she came back. | How long has she been crying about this? |
| Richard has been calling you non-stop. | Has Richard been calling me? |
| They have been looking for him through the night. | Have they been looking for him? |
As you can see, it is the same as in the Present Perfect Simple. In fact, if you notice, the Present Perfect Continuous always contains the Present Perfect Simple of the verb to be in the auxiliary (has/have been).
When to use the Present Perfect Continuous
The most difficult thing about the present perfect, in both its simple and continuous forms, is knowing exactly when we have to use it and why.
In English, the Present Perfect Continuous is normally used:
- For an activity that has just finished and where there is some kind of connection or result in the present:
Have you been smoking? Your clothes reek of tobacco!
You’re out of breath. What have you been doing?
I was worried about you. I’ve been calling you for hours.
- For activities that have been taking place over a period of time:
Jack seems like a nice guy. We’ve been texting all week.
We’ve been hanging out since we were kids.
- When we want to focus on the action itself rather than the result of that action. In this case, we can compare it with the Present Perfect Simple, as the latter focuses more on the result. For example:
| PRES. PERFECT CONTINUOUS (ACTION) (We are talking about the activity itself and it is not finished.) | PRES. PERFECT SIMPLE (RESULT) (The action is finished and we know the result.) |
| We have been cleaning the house all day. | We’ve cleaned the house and now it smells great. |
| She has been crying about this since she came back. | She has cried a lot, but now she’s better. |
| Richard has been calling you non-stop. | Richard has called you. He says you should call him back. |
- When we want to say how long an unfinished action has lasted up to that point, usually accompanied by for, since or how long:
I have been smoking since I was 15 years old.
How long have you been studying for your exam?
We’ve been training hard the whole season.
Stative verbs and the Present Perfect Continuous
As we already saw when explaining the Present Continuous, stative verbs are not normally conjugated in continuous forms, and this includes the Present Perfect Continuous.
For example, it would normally sound strange to say something like “we have been knowing” or “I have been liking”, as verbs like know and like generally act as stative verbs, without expressing an action in itself.
Download the Present Perfect Continuous in PDF
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See you in the next post. Until then, don’t forget to keep smiling! 🙂