Ta čas je pravtako predpreteklik kot Past Perfect Simple, s katerim še dodatno poudarimo trajanje oz. povemo, da dejanje v preteklosti ni bilo dovršeno.
Tvorimo ga z HAD/HADN’T + BEEN + glagol s končnico –ING, za vse osebe enako.
Trdilna oblika:
The roof had been leaking for some time before Tom discovered it.
Tom had been waiting for the bus for two hours when it arrived.
Nikalna oblika:
Tom/I/You… hadn’t been studying all day long.
Vprašalna oblika:
Had Tom/we/you… been studying all day long?
1. Izražanje nedovršenih preteklih dejanj, ki so se zgodila pred rugimi preteklimi dejanji:
Tom had been waiting for the bus for two hours when it finally arrived.
Before he bought a car, he had been saving up since 1975.
2. Izražanje takih dejanj z besedama for (koliko časa je trajalo) in since (kdaj se je začelo):
We couldn’t go out of the house that day because it had been raining since morning/for three hours.