Present Perfect Progressive Tense in English Grammar

What is the present perfect progressive?

The present perfect progressive, also present perfect continuous, is the tense used for actions that began in the past and last until a present or almost present moment.

The present perfect progressive is conjugated with the present tense of have, the past participle of be (been) and the present participle (-ing form) of the main verb.

Learn how to use and conjugate the present perfect progressive tense in English grammar, then practise what you have learnt in the interactive exercises

Contents

—Why are you so out of breath?

—I’ve been playing tennis all morning.

—That sounds fun!

—It is, I’ve been trying to do more sport lately, I want to get fitter.

—If you want, come to the gym where I work and I can give you a free pass.

—I didn’t know you worked at a gym. How long have you been working there?

—It’s a new job, I’ve only been working there for two weeks.

When to use the present perfect progressive

The present perfect progressive expresses actions that started in the past and are still ongoing or recently completed in the present.

When an action is still ongoing in the present, the present perfect progressive:

Example:
—How long have you been working at the gym?
—I’ve been working there for two weeks.
I started the job two weeks ago and still work there now
  • talks about temporary situations or new habits (signal words: recently, lately)
Example:
I’ve been trying to do more sport lately.

When the action is recently completed, the present perfect progressive:

  • expresses what was happening up to the present moment; often the effects of the action are still visible
Example:
—Why are you so out of breath?
—I’ve been playing tennis all morning.

Take a closer look at the difference between the present perfect and the present perfect progressive in English grammar in the tense comparison section of the website.

Note

We do not use stative verbs in the present perfect progressive (e.g. be, believe, know, love, own, understand …).

We must use the present perfect simple with these verbs, even when expressing duration.

Example:
We’ve known each other for ten years.
not: We’ve been knowing

Take a closer look at the difference between the present perfect and the present perfect progressive in English grammar in the tense comparison section of the website.

Signal Words: English Present Perfect Progressive

Signal words can help us to recognise the tense in a sentence. The signal words for the present perfect progressive are:

  • all day, the whole week
  • for + time period
  • since + fixed time point
  • how long?
  • lately

How to conjugate the present perfect progressive

Conjugate the present perfect progressive as follows: have/has + been + -ing form.

The table below shows how to conjugate the present perfect progressive in affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences.

Affirmative Negative Question
I/you/we/they I have been speaking I haven’t been speaking Have I been speaking?
he/she/it
 he has been speaking he hasn’t been speaking Has he been speaking?

Present Participle – Spelling Rules

The present participle is generally formed by adding -ing to the base form of a verb. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule:

  • An -e at the end of the word is removed, but -ee, -oe and -ye remain unchanged.
    Example:
    come – coming
    but: agree – agreeing
  • The final consonant is doubled in words that have a short stressed vowel before the final consonant. However, -w, -x and -y are not doubled.
    Example:
    sit – sitting
    but: mix – mixing
  • An -l as a final consonant after a vowel is always doubled in British English but not in American English.
    Example:
    travel – travelling (British)
    traveling (American)
  • An -ie at the end of the word is replaced with a -y
    Example:
    lie – lying

Contractions

Contractions are a combination of certain pronouns, verbs and the word not.

They are mostly used in spoken and informal written English.

See the table below for a list of contractions with have and has in the present perfect progressive:

Long form Contraction Example
have …’ve they’ve
have not …’ve not/… haven’t I’ve not/I haven’t
has …’s she’s
has not …’s not/… hasn’t he’s not/he hasn’t

Note

The contracted form of have is generally only used after pronouns.

Example:
They’ve been playing tennis all morning.
but not: The guys’ve been playing

However, the contraction of has can be used after both nouns and pronouns.

Example:
He’s/Aaron’s been playing tennis all morning.

Nouns or names that end in -s are the exception to this.

Example:
James’s been playing → James has been playing