DASH – PAST PERFECT

This verb tense describes events that began in the past and ended there, too. It is used when you have
several events in the past and several of them happened earlier than others. When I received the
phone call, I had already been writing the manuscript. – I had been working a lot.

To start the animation, point the cursor on the person, such as „You“!

From top to bottom you can build your sentences. From bottom to top you can build your questions. For statements, always begin with the personal pronoun „I-you-he-she-it-we-you or they“. Use the signal word “had” for all personal pronouns. Include the first siamese twin, the form “to Be” in this case “been” for all personal pronouns. Finally, use the action verb in its basic form and add the “ing” ending to it. Only after that can you complete the sentence with place and time. (place always comes before time – P before T).

I had been working in Munich since 1991, when...

With questions, you begin from the bottom up. If, for instance, you would like to use the question word “why”, begin with this word, then include the signal word “had” to indicate the past perfect tense, the personal pronoun,the form “been” the desired action verb with the second siamese twin “ing”. If necessary, include place then time. If you do not require a question word, simply leave it out and continue building the sentence as just described.

(Why) had you been working in Munich since 1991?

Note: he-she-it-they he-she-it-they“ can be replaced by proper nouns such as a first name instead of „he“ or a place such as „The shop“ instead of „it“.

Peter had been working in Munich since 1991, when…

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