Explanation
Use the past perfect continuous to show that an action was already happening before another past action or time. The form is "had been" + verb-ing.
For example, "I had been waiting for 20 minutes before the bus came." Here "I had been waiting" shows the waiting started earlier and was still continuing up to the bus's arrival. "For 20 minutes" tells us how long it had continued, and "before the bus came" gives the later past time. In Japanese, this often feels like "20分待っていた" or "ずっと待っていた", but English can show the earlier past clearly with "had been".
過去完了進行形は、ある動作が別の過去の出来事より前から続いていたことを表します。形は "had been" + 動詞-ing です。
例えば "I had been waiting for 20 minutes before the bus came." では、"I had been waiting" が「バスが来る前から待ち続けていた」ことを示します。"for 20 minutes" は続いた時間を表し、"before the bus came" はそのあとに起きた過去の出来事です。日本語では「20分待っていた」「ずっと待っていた」と言えますが、英語では "had been" で「その前から続いていた」とはっきり言えます。
Examples
- I had been waiting for 20 minutes before the bus came. バスが来る前に、私は20分待っていました。
- She had been studying all night, so she was very tired. 彼女は一晩中勉強していたので、とても疲れていました。
- Had you been living in Tokyo long before you moved here? ここに引っ越す前、東京に長く住んでいましたか。
- He had not been sleeping well before the trip. 彼は旅行の前、よく眠れていませんでした。
- We had been talking for hours when the lights went out. 私たちは何時間も話していたところで、電気が消えました。
- The floor was wet because it had been raining. 雨が降っていたので、床がぬれていました。
Common Mistakes
Japanese learners often use the past simple or past continuous when they need the earlier past. For example, "I was waiting for 20 minutes before the bus came" is better as "I had been waiting for 20 minutes before the bus came." Another common error is "since" with a length of time, as in "I had been working here since three years". Use "for" with a period of time: "I had been working here for three years."
日本語学習者は、前の過去を言いたいのに過去形や過去進行形だけで言ってしまうことがあります。例えば "I was waiting for 20 minutes before the bus came" より、"I had been waiting for 20 minutes before the bus came" のほうが自然です。また、"since" と期間を一緒に使う誤りも多いです。たとえば "I had been working here since three years" は誤りで、"I had been working here for three years" と言います。