Present Perfect Continuous Tense

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Verbs have different forms, called tenses. The tense of a verb tells us when the action happens.

Forms of Present Perfect Continuous Tense

have been + present participle
has been + present participle

Here is a table to help you to remember when to use have and has.

	Singular	Plural
First person	I have	we have
Second person	you have	you have
Third person	he has she has it has	they have

Examples:

It has been raining since this morning.
I have been trying to complete this puzzle for the last two hours.

Contractions (Short Forms)

I have been	I’ve been
You have been	You’ve been
They have been	They’ve been
He has been	He’s been
She has been	She’s been
It has been	It’s been
Paul has been	Paul’s been
The dog has been	The dog’s been

Examples:

It’s been raining since this morning.
I‘ve been trying to complete this puzzle for the last two hours.

When do we use the present perfect continuous tense?

We use the present perfect continuous to emphasize the duration of an action that began in the past and continues till now,

Examples:

She has been living in this country since 1997.
They have been working here for a month.

We use the present perfect continuous to express an action that began in the past and is still continuing now.

Examples:

We have been painting the house.
He has been exercising to lose weight.

Negative Forms of Present Perfect Continuous

We form the negative by adding not after has/have.

has + not + been + present participle
have + not + been + present participle

Contraction (or short form):

has not = hasn’t
have not = haven’t

Examples:

I have not been practicing the piano lately.
I haven’t been practicing the piano lately.
He has not been eating his meals regularly.
He hasn’t been eating his meals regularly.

Videos

The present perfect continuous tense is like the present perfect, but the activity is continuous, while sometimes the present perfect isn't.

An English grammar lesson on the present perfect continuous

In this video, we practice using time expressions and begin our study of the present perfect progressive or present perfect continuous. This free ESL lesson introduces the present perfect tense and its uses.