A: How long have you been waiting?
B: I've been waiting for three hours.
Present Perfect Continuous
have or has + been + verb ~ing
Positive & Negative Sentences
|
I You We They |
have 've have not haven't |
been | raining for a few hours. waiting for ten minutes. working today since 8 AM. |
|
He She It |
has 's has not hasn't |
Questions
| Have |
I you we they |
been | raining for a few hours? waiting for ten minutes? working today since 8 AM? |
| Has |
he she it |
Use
How Long?
We can use the Present Perfect to describe things that started in the past and continue now:
Example #1
- I came to work at 8 AM this morning.
- Now, it is 1 PM. I'm at work now.
- I've been at work since 8 AM this morning.
Example #2
- It started raining two hours ago.
- It's raining now.
- It's been raining for two hours.
Example #3
- I moved to Vancouver three months ago.
- I am living in Vancouver now.
- I've been living in Vancouver for three months.
Example #4
- Kazu bought her phone six weeks ago.
- She has the phone now.
- She's had her phone for six weeks.
Simple or Continuous?
Present Simple ➝ Present Perfect Simple
Chris has a red sports car. He's had the car for two years.
I know Frank. I've known him since we were kids.
We're married. We've been married for eight months.
Present Continuous ➝ Present Perfect Continuous
I'm studying in the library. I've been studying here for a few hours.
It's raining. It's been raining since 6.
We're working. We've been working for many hours.
How Long Have You...?
How long have you been here?
How long have they been studying English?
How long has it been raining?
Since & For
When describing the duration of unfinished actions or situations with the Present Perfect, we usually use for and since:
For + Period of Time
- ...for two years.
- ...for three months.
- ...for a long time.
- ...for many months.
Since + Start Time of Period
- ...since November.
- ...since 2008.
- ...since 8:00am.
- ...since January 17th.
Since can also be used with a clause in the Past Simple tense:
- ...since I woke up this morning.
- ...since you got here.
- ...since I started working for this company.
Exercise
Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document.