Past Perfect Continuous Tense: Pengertian, Rumus, & Contoh Soal

Satu di antara 16 jenis tenses yang wajib dipahami dalam bahasa Inggris adalah past perfect continuous tense.

Bentuk tense ini menggabungkan tiga keadaan, yaitu masa lampau (past tense), telah selesai (perfect tense) dan mempunyai durasi tertentu (continuous tense).

Meskipun terdengar rumit, tense ini terbilang cukup mudah untuk dipahami. Untuk mengenal lebih jauh tentang past perfect continuous tense, simak penjelasan lengkap di bawah ini.

Pengertian Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Past perfect continuous adalah tense yang menggambarkan bahwa sebuah kejadian bermula dan telah sempurna (selesai) di suatu waktu spesifik di masa lampau.

Biasanya, aksi yang terjadi mempunyai durasi tertentu dan sudah tidak lagi terjadi saat ini.

Tense ini mempunyai tiga fungsi yang lazim diketahui, antara lain:

• Mengungkapkan aksi yang sedang berlangsung di masa lampau sebelum aksi lain muncul

Contoh: We had been cooking in the kitchen for an hour when the postman came.

Pada kalimat tersebut, terdapat dua aksi yaitu cooking dan came. Aksi cooking sedang berlangsung ketika aksi came terjadi.

• Menunjukkan durasi sebuah aksi tertentu di masa lampau

Contoh: I had been waiting for 1 hour and I became so exhausted.

Kalimat di atas menunjukkan adanya durasi sebuah aksi, yaitu menunggu selama 1 jam sehingga membuat pembicara kelelahan.

• Mengungkapkan kalimat tak langsung (indirect speech)

Contoh: They said that they had been reading in the library.

Kalimat di atas terbentuk dari direct speech: They said, “We were reading in the library.”

Indirect speech yang menggunakan past perfect continuous biasanya dibentuk dari kalimat direct speech dengan bentuk past continuous tense atau present perfect continuous tense.

Catatan:

Perlu diperhatikan bahwa kata kerja yang digunakan pada past perfect continuous harus bersifat progresif dan memiliki bentuk continuous.

Beberapa contoh kata kerja yang tidak bisa digunakan antara lain: love, hate, want, know, mean, believe, like, etc.

Rumus Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Meskipun menggabungkan tiga keadaan, membuat kalimat past perfect continuous tense cukup sederhana.

Kita hanya perlu menggunakan had + been + verb-ing. Tidak ada perbedaan untuk subyek singular maupun plural.

Untuk lebih jelasnya, simak rumus past perfect continuous beserta contoh berikut ini.

Rumus Past Perfect Continuous Tense untuk Kalimat positif

Subject + had + been + verb-ing

Contoh: They had been waiting since 7 AM.

Rumus Past Perfect Continuous Tense untuk Kalimat negatif

Subject + had + not + been + verb-ing

Contoh: I had not been swimming when he came.

Rumus Past Perfect Continuous Tense untuk Kalimat interogatif

Had + subject + been + verb-ing

Contoh: Had the children been sleeping when the fire burned the house?

Kalimat past perfect continuous tense biasanya menggunakan beberapa preposition seperti when, for, since, dan before. Masing-masing preposition mempunyai fungsi yang berbeda.

Misalnya, when atau before digunakan untuk menunjukkan adanya aksi lain ketika aksi yang lebih lama sedang terjadi. Atau, since dan for digunakan untuk menekankan pada durasi kejadian.

Contoh Kalimat Past Perfect Continuous Tense

• The cat had been sleeping for 30 minutes when a mouse walked in front of it.

Kucing itu telah tertidur selama 30 menit ketika seekor tikus berjalan di depannya.

• Mr. John had been working for 10 hours when he got heart attack.

Pak John telah bekerja selama 10 jam ketika dia terkena serangan jantung.

• The man whom you met last night had been standing in front of my house for an hour.

Lelaki yang kamu jumpai semalam telah berdiri di depan rumah saya selama satu jam.

• The children had been swimming for a few minutes when the teacher called.

Anak-anak telah berenang selama beberapa menit ketika guru memanggil.

• Uncle Seth had been repairing his car before the accident happened.

Paman Seth telah memperbaiki mobilnya sebelum kecelakaan terjadi.

• Before the mail came, Molly had been waiting for 3 days.

Sebelum surat itu datang, Molly telah menunggu selama 3 hari.

• The girl had been crying for many days since her boyfriend left.

Gadis itu telah menangis selama berhari-hari setelah kekasihnya pergi.

• I had been watching movie for a few hours before I heard something upstairs.

Saya telah menonton film selama beberapa jam sebelum saya mendengar sesuatu di atas.

• The woman said that her husband had been playing games for days when she left.

Wanita itu berkata bahwa suaminya telah bermain game selama berhari-hari ketika dia pergi.

• She had not been playing music for years when she decided to come back.

Dia sudah tidak bermain musik selama bertahun-tahun ketika dia memutuskan untuk kembali.

• My brother said that his friends had not been working for a month.

Saudara laki-laki saya berkata bahwa temannya sudah tidak bekerja selama sebulan.

• Had the workers been demonstrating when the mayor came?

Apakah para pekerja sedang berdemonstrasi ketika walikota datang?

• Had she been cooking in the kitchen before someone knocked the door?

Apakah dia sedang memasak di dapur ketika seseorang mengetuk pintu?

• The boy had been sitting on the chair when his mother called him.

Anak laki-laki itu sedang duduk di kursi ketika ibunya memanggil.

• I had been thinking all day and I needed an inspiration.

Saya telah berpikir seharian dan saya membutuhkan inspirasi.

Untuk mengetahui seberapa jauh pemahaman kita tentang materi ini, silakan jawab contoh soal past perfect continuous tense di bawah ini ya.

Contoh Soal Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Answer the question by choosing a, b, c or d!

1. The visitors _________ (wait) in front of the gate for five hours before it was opened.

1. has been waiting
2. have been waiting
3. had been waiting
4. had waited

2. When the teacher come, the students __________ (talk) about Harry Potter movie for 30 minutes.

1. have been talking
2. had been talking
3. are talking
4. were talking

3. I was so tired because I ________ (work) all day long.

1. had been working
2. have been working
3. have worked
4. had worked

4. The man ____________ (repair) my motorcycle for a few hours but nothing seemed right.

1. had repaired
2. has repaired
3. has been repairing
4. had been repairing

5. Boy: When the manager came, the workers __________ (strike) for three days.
Girl: Did something happen after the manager came?
Boy: Yes, they made a deal and the workers got back to work.

1. have been striking
2. had been striking
3. were striking
4. are striking

6. ______ they _______ (stand) for a few hours before the door was opened?

1. Had, been standing
2. Have, been standing
3. Were, standing
4. Are, standing

7. I ____________ (read) for ten minutes when my father came to my room.

1. have been reading
2. has been reading
3. had been reading
4. am reading

Kunci jawaban:
1. C, 2. B, 3. A, 4. D, 5. B, 6. A, 7. C

Itulah beberapa pembahasan tentang past perfect continuous tense yang mencakup pengertian, rumus, contoh kalimat & soalnya. Semoga dengan membaca artikel ini, teman-teman bisa meningkatkan pemahaman tentang past perfect continuous tense.

Demikian dari rumus pintar. Happy learning.