How to use Present Perfect Continuous

Five Minute Guide to Present Perfect Continuous

Forming sentences with Present Perfect Continuous

• Affirmative: have / has been + present participle
• Negative: haven’t / hasn’t been + present participle

Using Present Perfect

1. We use Present perfect continuous to talk about an action/event that started in the past and is still happening now.
   • I’ve been waiting for over an hour. (I’m still waiting now)
   • It’s been snowing since 8am. (It’s still snowing now)
2. We often use How long in questions.
   • How long have you been learning English? (You started learning in the past and are still learning now)
3. We use Present perfect continuous to talk about an activity/event that has recently finished and has a result or consequence now.
   • She’s tired because she’s been working hard.
   • I have no money left because I’ve been shopping.
4. We use Present perfect continuous to focus on the action and not on the completion of the action.
   • She’s been writing a book. (focus on the action)
     She’s written a book. (Present perfect simple – focus on the result)
   • They’ve been negotiating the contract. (focus on the action – it’s not important if it’s finished or not)
     They’ve negotiated the contract. (focus on the result – the negotiation is finished)
5. When the action/event is more temporary we often use present perfect continuous. When it is more permanent we often use present perfect simple.
   • They’ve lived in Italy for many years. (Present perfect simple)
   • I’ve been living here for a month. (Present perfect continuous)

Other rules and use of Present Perfect Continuous

1. Some verbs are not usually used with present perfect continuous because they are not action verbs, for example: believe, belong, depend, hate, know, like, love, mean, need, prefer, realise, suppose, want, understand.
   • I‘ve known him for ten years – correct
     I‘ve been knowing him for ten years – incorrect
   • I‘ve belonged to the tennis club for 25 years – correct
     I‘ve been belonging to the tennis club for 25 years – incorrect

Pronunciation

See the phonemic chart for IPA symbols used below.

1. Been is often reduced to its weak form.
   • We’ve been standing for a long time: /bɪn/

Present Perfect Continuous in detail

How do we form Present Perfect Continuous?

We start with the present perfect of the verb “be”:

• have/has been

Next, we add the present participle form of the main verb:

• have/has been working

So what we end up with is actually two auxiliary verbs – “have/has” and “been” before the main verb. Here are some examples:

• She has been working hard all day.
• They have been cooking dinner since this afternoon.

To make a yes/no or object question we can only invert one of the auxiliary verbs with the subject. The second one stays where it is:

• Have you been working hard? (yes/no question)
• Why have you been working hard? (wh- object question)
• Who has been working hard? (subject question)

Let’s have a look at how the meaning of present perfect continuous is different to the meaning of present perfect simple.

When do we use Present Perfect Continuous?

Actions which started in the past and continue now

We can use present perfect continuous with “for” and “since” in the same way that we use present perfect simple, to show that an action started in the past and continues now. Have a look at these examples:

• I’ve been teaching English since 1998.
• I’ve taught English since 1998.
• I’ve been living in London for many years.
• I’ve lived in London for many years.

In these sentences both present perfect simple and present perfect continuous work, and there is not really any difference in the meaning. Sometimes, though, we can use present perfect continuous to show that the situation is more temporary:

• I’ve worked in London for a long time. (Present perfect simple – more long-lasting)
• My office is in London but I’ve been working on a project in Manchester for the last few weeks. (Present perfect continuous – more temporary)

Recent actions which have a present result

We can also use present perfect continuous to talk about recent actions with a present result, just like we could use present perfect simple. There is a very important difference, though. Have a look at these sentences:

• I’ve read that report you wrote.
• I’ve been reading that report you wrote.

In both sentences, the action happened recently. So no difference in meaning so far. But the difference comes in what we want to emphasise. In the first sentence, we want to emphasise the fact that the action is complete and so now there is a result (we can discuss the report). In the second sentence though, we are emphasising the action of reading the report. This action of reading has recently stopped (so that I can talk to you about it), but it may or may not be totally finished – I may continue reading the report later. Here’s another example:

• I’ve worked hard on this presentation all afternoon.
• I’ve been working hard on this presentation all afternoon.

Once again, in the first sentence the focus is on the fact the action is complete – the speaker wants to tell his boss that he has completed the presentation and is ready to give it. In the second sentence though the focus is on the action of working – he wants to show his boss how hard he’s been working – the presentation may or may not be finished.

Different kinds of result

This difference – focusing on the action itself or on the fact that the action is complete – can give us different kinds of result in the present. Have a look first at these present perfect simple sentences:

• John: The baby’s eaten lunch.
  Jane: Great, she can go down for a sleep now.
• John: I’ve done the ironing.
  Jane: Great, we can go out now!

With present perfect simple, the result (being able to put the baby down for a sleep; being able to go out) comes from the fact that the action is complete – it’s only possible to put the baby down for a sleep or go out because the action is complete. Now let’s try one of these with present perfect continuous:

• John: What a mess! There’s food all over the table!
  Jane: Yes, the baby’s been eating lunch.

This time the result (food all over the table) comes from the fact that the baby was eating. It doesn’t matter whether or not the action is complete – maybe the baby has finished eating, maybe not. We’ve used present perfect continuous to focus on the action itself, not the completion of the action. Let’s try the other example:

• John: I’ve been doing the ironing.
  Jane: Yes, I can see that – all the clothes are neat and folded.

Once again the result (neat, folded clothes) comes from the fact that John was ironing – it doesn’t matter whether or not the ironing is finished. So once again we’re using present perfect continuous to focus on the action itself rather than the completion of the action.

Present perfect simple only

We’ve looked at when we can use present perfect continuous and some of the differences between it and present perfect simple. But are there any cases where we can’t use it? Well, firstly, remember when we looked at present and past continuous we saw that we cannot normally use them with stative verbs. The same is true with present perfect continuous:

• I’ve been knowing John for 10 years. (Present perfect continuous – incorrect)
• I’ve known John for 10 years. (Present perfect simple – correct)

Secondly, remember when we looked at present perfect simple we saw that we can talk about how many times or how often something happened. We saw this both when talking about life experiences and unfinished periods of time:

• I’ve eaten crocodile three times.
• I’ve drunk five cups of coffee today.

We can’t do the same with present perfect continuous:

• I’ve been eating crocodile three times.
• I’ve been drinking three cups of coffee today.

Related grammar points

Present Perfect
Tense and aspect