The present perfect continuous is used for actions or events that began in the past and continue into the present.
Grammatical Rules
Form
As with the present perfect simple, we use the auxiliary verb “to have” as well as “been” (the past participle of the verb “to be”) and the verb+ing.
| Subject |
Auxiliary |
Verb+ing |
| I, you, we, they |
have been |
talking, studying, waiting… |
| he, she, it |
has been |
talking, studying, waiting… |
Structure
Subject + auxiliary verb (to have) + “been” + verb+ing…
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They have [They’ve] been talking for three hours.
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She has [She’s] been studying English since she was 16.
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I have [I’ve] been waiting for you for over an hour!
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Subject auxiliary verb (to have) + “not” + “been” + verbing…
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They haven’t been talking for more than a few minutes.
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She hasn’t been studying English for very long.
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Don’t worry, I haven’t been waiting long.
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3. Interrogative Sentences
Auxiliary verb (to have) + subject + “been” + verb+ing…?
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Have they been talking for a long time?
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Have you been waiting long?
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Use
We use the present perfect continuous when we want to express the sense of continuity of an action that began in the past and which continues into the present or which has just finished.
We use it to refer to something that we have been doing over a period of time and therefore we use the prepositions of time “for” and “since”.
If we use the present perfect continuous without a time reference, it means “lately” or “recently”.
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I can’t believe it is still raining. It’s been raining for a week now!
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John has been working at the bank since 2003.
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We’ve been planning our vacation for over a month.
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Amanda and Tom have been dating since last June.
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He hasn’t been studying enough.
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Have you been feeling ok lately?
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I’ve been working too much.
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Note: As we have learned, we cannot use the continuous tenses with some verbs (see a list of verbs and an explanation here). In these cases, we use the present perfect simple.
El presente perfecto continuo, muchas veces tiene la equivalencia a la traducción “llevar + gerundio” en español, pero el uso de esta forma es más frecuente en inglés. Se utiliza para acciones que han empezado en el pasado pero continúan en el presente.
Grammatical Rules (Reglas gramaticales)
Form (Forma)
Como en el presente perfecto, usamos el verbo auxiliar “to have” además de “been” (el participio pasado del verbo “to be”) más el verbo+ing.
| Subject |
Auxiliary |
Verbo+ing |
| I, you, we, they |
have been |
talking, studying, waiting… |
| he, she, it |
has been |
talking, studying, waiting… |
Structure (Estructura)
1. Affirmative Sentences (Frases afirmativas)
Sujeto + verbo auxiliar (to have) + “been” + verbo+ing.
Ejemplos:
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They have [They’ve] been talking for three hours.(Han estado hablando durante tres horas.)
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She has [She’s] been studying English since she was 16.(Ha estado estudiando inglés desde que tenía 16 años.)
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I have [I’ve] been waiting for you for over an hour!(¡Te llevo esperando durante más de una hora!)
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2. Negative Sentences (Frases negativas)
Sujeto + verbo auxiliar (to have) + “not” + “been” + verbo+ing.
Ejemplos:
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They haven’t been talking for more than a few minutes.(No han estado hablando más de unos minutos.)
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She hasn’t been studying English for very long.(No ha estado estudiando inglés durante mucho tiempo.)
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Don’t worry, I haven’t been waiting long.(No te preocupes, no llevo esperando mucho tiempo.)
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3. Interrogative Sentences (Frases interrogativas)
Verbo auxiliar (to have) + sujeto + “been” + verbo+ing?
Ejemplos:
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Have they been talking for a long time?(¿Han estado hablando durante mucho tiempo?)
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Have you been waiting long?(¿Llevas esperando mucho tiempo?)
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Use (Uso)
Usamos este tiempo cuando queremos expresar el sentido de la continuidad de una acción que ha comenzado en el pasado y que dura todavía en el presente o que acaba de terminar.
Nos referimos a algo que hemos estado haciendo en un período de tiempo, por lo tanto, usamos las preposiciones de tiempo “for” y “since”.
Si usamos el presente perfecto continuo sin un período de tiempo, significa “lately” o “recently”.
Ejemplos:
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I can’t believe it is still raining. It’s been raining for a week now!(No puedo creer que todavía esté lloviendo. Lleva lloviendo desde hace una semana!)
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John has been working at the bank since 2003.(John lleva trabajando en el banco desde 2003.)
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We’ve been planning our vacation for over a month.(Llevamos planeando nuestras vacaciones desde hace más de un mes.)
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Amanda and Tom have been dating since last June.(Amanda y Tom han estado saliendo desde el junio pasado.)
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He hasn’t been studying enough.(No ha estado estudiando bastante.)
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Have you been feeling ok lately?(¿Te has sentido bien últimamente?)
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I’ve been working too much.(He estado trabajando demasiado.)
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Nota: Como hemos visto en las últimas lecciones, no podemos usar las formas continuas con algunos verbos (Ver una lista y explicación aquí). En estos casos, usamos el presente perfecto.
Nota: Como hemos visto en las últimas lecciones, no podemos usar las formas continuas con algunos verbos. En estos casos, usamos el presente perfecto.
