I. The Use of Perfect Continuous Tenses

v The Present Perfect Continuous is used to express an action which began in the past, has been going on up to the present and is either still continuing or just finished.

e.g. His father has been working Його батько працює на

at this plant for twenty years. цьому заводі двадцять років.

She has been teaching physics Вона викладає фізику в

at our school since 1990. нашій школі з 1990 року.

How long (since when) have you been Скільки часу (з якого learning English? часу) ви вивчаєте

англійську мову?

! If the verb has no continuous form, the Present Perfect is used instead of the Present Perfect Continuous.

e.g. How long have you known her? Скільки часу ви знаєте її?

You haven’t seen me for years. Ви не бачили мене багато років.

v The Past Perfect Continuous is used to express an action which began before a definite moment in the past, continued up to it and was or was not going on at that past moment.

e.g. When I came to work at the Institute she had been teaching there for 10 years already.   I was very tired when I arrived home. I had been working hard all day long.

Коли я прийшла працювати до інституту, вона викладала там вже 10 років   Я був дуже втомлений, коли приїхав додому Я працював увесь день..

! If the verb has no continuous form, the Past Perfect is used instead of the Past Perfect Continuous.

v The Future Perfect Continuous is used to express an action which will begin before a definite moment in the future, will continue up to that moment and will be going on at that moment.

e.g. We shall have been working at this problem for a month when you visit us a second time.

Ми вже місяць працюватимемо над цією проблемою, коли ви приїдете до нас вдруге.