Прошедшее совершенное длительное время в английском языке (Past Perfect Continuous Tense)

Образование Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Continuous образуется при помощи вспомогательного глагола to be в форме Past Perfect (had been) и формы причастия настоящего времени (Present Participle) смыслового глагола:
I had been working, he had been working.

В вопросительной форме первый вспомогательный глагол ставится перед подлежащим.

Had I been working? Had he been working?

Отрицательная форма образуется при помощи частицы not, которая ставится после первого вспомогательного глагола.

I had not been working, he had not been working.

В вопросительно-отрицательной форме частица not ставится непосредственно после подлежащего.

Had I not been working? Had he not been working?

В разговорной речи употребляются те же сокращения, что и в Past Perfect:
I'd been working, he'd been working; I hadn't been working, I'd not been working; hadn't I been working?
и т.д.

Употребление Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Past Perfect Continuous употребляется для выражения длительного прошедшего действия, начавшегося ранее другого прошедшего действия, выраженного Past Indefinite и еще происходившего в момент его наступления.

Past Perfect Continuous (как и Present Perfect Continuous) употребляется, когда указан период времени, в течение которого действие уже совершалось, т.е. с такими обозначениями времени, как for two hours в течение двух часов, for three months в течение трех месяцев, for a long time в течение долгого времени, долго, давно и т.п.

I had been working for a long time when my brother came.	Я (уже) долго работал, когда пришел мой брат.
It had been raining for two hours when I left home.	Дождь шел (уже) два часа, когда я вышел из дому.
She had been sleeping for three hours when we returned.	Она спала (уже) три часа, когда мы возвратились.
His sister had been living in Moscow for three years when the war broke out.	Его сестра жила в Москве (уже) три года, когда началась война.

Если бы в приведенных примерах не было указано, как долго совершалось действие, то вместо Past Perfect Continuous следовало бы употребить Past Continuous.

Длительное прошедшее действие, начавшееся ранее другого прошедшего действия и еще происходившее в момент его наступления:

с указанием, как долго оно совершалось	без указания, как долго оно совершалось
I had been working for a long time when my brother came.	I was working when my brother came.
It had been raining for two hours when I left home.	It was raining when I left home.
She had been sleeping for three hours when we returned.	She was sleeping when we returned.
His sister had been living in Moscow for three years when the war broke out.	His sister was living in Moscow when the war broke out.

Распространенной ошибкой является употребление Past Continuous вместо Past Perfect Continuous, поскольку в русском языке форма прошедшего времени глаголов несовершенного вида употребляется как с указанием периода времени, в течение которого совершалось действие, так и без такого указания:

I had been working for two hours when my brother came.	Я работал два часа, когда пришел мой брат.
I was working when my brother came.	Я работал, когда пришел мой брат.

С глаголами, не употребляющимися во временах группы Continuous (to be, to have, to know, to love и др.), вместо Past Perfect Continuous употребляется Past Perfect:

I had been in Leningrad for a few days when Comrade D. called on me.	Я был в Ленинграде уже несколько дней, когда тов. Д. зашел ко мне.
As I had known him for nearly ten years, I was able to recommend him to them as a very experienced teacher.	Так как я знал его около десяти лет, я мог рекомендовать его как очень опытного преподавателя.

Past Perfect Continuous употребляется также для выражения длительного прошедшего действия, которое закончилось непосредственного перед моментом наступления другого прошедшего действия. Период времени, в течение которого совершалось действие, может быть как указан, так и не указан.

Although the sun was shining, it was still cold as it had been raining hard for two hours.	Хотя солнце светило, было еще холодно, так как в течение двух часов шел сильный дождь.
Не felt very tired when he came home as he had been playing football.	Он чувствовал себя очень усталым, когда пришел домой, так как играл в футбол.

Сводка случаев употребления Past Perfect Continuous

Длительное прошедшее действие, совершавшееся в момент наступления другого прошедшего действия, с указанием, как долго оно совершалось,
Длительное прошедшее действие, закончившееся непосредственно перед моментом наступления другого прошедшего действия.

I had been working for two hours, when my brother came.	Я уже работал два часа, когда пришел мой брат.
He felt tired as he had been playing football for several hours.	Он чувствовал себя усталым, так как играл в футбол в течение нескольких часов.

Примеры

Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The sun was shining but the ground was very wet. It had been raining.

It was not raining when I looked out of the window; the sun was shining. But it had been raining before. That's why the ground was wet.

When the boys came into the house, their clothes were dirty, their hair was untidy and one of them had a black eye. They'd been fighting.
I was very tired when I arrived home. I'd been working hard all day.

You can say that something had been happening for a period of time before something else happened:

Our game of tennis was interrupted. We'd been playing for about half an hour when it started to rain very heavily.
Ken gave up smoking two years ago. He'd been smoking for 30 years.

Had been -ing{past perfect continuous} is the past of have been -ing{present perfect continuous}. Compare:

present perfect continuous

I hope the bus comes soon. I've been waiting for 20 minutes, (before now)
He's out of breath. He has been running.

past perfect continuous

At last the bus came. I'd been waiting for 20 minutes, (before the bus came}
He was out of breath. He had been running.

Compare had been doing and was doing(past continuous):

It wasn't raining when we went out. The sun was shining. But it had been raining, so the ground was wet.
Ann was sitting in an armchair watching television. She was tired because she'd been working very hard.

Some verbs (for example, know and want) are not normally used in the continuous:

We were good friends. We had known each other for years, (not 'had been knowing').