Past Perfect Continuous Tense

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We use the past perfect continuous to talk about actions or events which started before a particular time in the past and were still in progress up to that time in the past:

අතීතයේ නිශ්චිත කාලයකට පෙර ආරම්භ වූ සහ අතීතයේ එම කාලය දක්වා තවමත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් පවතින ක්‍රියා හෝ සිදුවීම් ගැන කතා කිරීමට අපි Past Perfect Continuous Tense භාවිතා කරමු:


It was so difficult to get up last Monday for school. I had been working on my essays the night before and I was very tired. (The past perfect continuous focuses on the activity of working on the essays up to a particular time in the past.)

පහුගිය සඳුදා ඉස්කෝලෙට නැගිටින්න හරිම අමාරුයි. මම පෙර දින රාත්‍රියේ මගේ රචනාවල වැඩ කරමින් සිටි අතර මම ඉතා වෙහෙසට පත්ව සිටියෙමි.


We can use the past perfect continuous to talk about events which started before a time in the past and which finished, but where the effects or results were still important at a point in the past:

අතීතයේ කාලයකට පෙර ආරම්භ වූ සහ අවසන් වූ සිදුවීම් ගැන කතා කිරීමට අපට අතීතයේ පරිපූර්ණ අඛණ්ඩව භාවිතා කළ හැකිය, නමුත් අතීතයේ යම් අවස්ථාවක දී බලපෑම් හෝ ප්‍රතිඵල තවමත් වැදගත් විය:


It had been raining and the ground was still wet.

වර්ෂාව ඇද හැලෙමින් තිබූ අතර පොළව තවමත් තෙත් විය.


This form is also used in reported speech. It is the equivalent of the past continuous and the present perfect continuous in direct speech:

මෙම පෝරමය වාර්තා කරන ලද කථාවේ ද භාවිතා වේ. එය සෘජු කථනයේ අතීත අඛණ්ඩ සහ වර්තමාන පරිපූර්ණ අඛණ්ඩතාවට සමාන වේ:


  • Jane said, "I have been gardening all afternoon." = Jane said she had been gardening all afternoon.

  • ජේන් කිව්වා, "මම හවස පුරාම ගෙවතු වගා කළා." = ජේන් පැවසුවේ ඇය දහවල් කාලය පුරාම ගෙවතු වගා කළ බවයි.


  • When the police questioned him, John said, "I was working late in the office that night." = When the police questioned him, John told them he had been working late in the office that night.

  • පොලිසිය ඔහුගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කරන විට ජෝන් පැවසුවේ “මම එදා රෑ ඔෆිස් එකේ වැඩ කළේ පරක්කු වෙලා” යනුවෙනි. = පොලිසිය ඔහුගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කළ විට, ජෝන් ඔවුන්ට පැවසුවේ ඔහු එදින රාත්‍රියේ කාර්යාලයේ වැඩ කරමින් සිටි බවයි.



Positive: I had been watching a movie for 3 hours before she came.

Question: Had you been watching a movie for 3 hours before she came ?

Negative: I had not been watching a movie for 3 hours before she came.

Negative/Question: Hadn’t you been watching a movie for 3 hours before she came ?


Positive: He had been learning English since 2000 when he died in 2003.

Question: Had he been learning English since 2000 when he died in 2003 ?

Negative: He had not been learning English since 2000 when he died in 2003.

Negative/Question: Hadn’t he been learning English since 2000 when he died in 2003?

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