1.4.9 Past perfect continuous

Form: she had (she'd) been waiting.

We use the past perfect continuous to refer to a situation or activity that took place before another even in the past, e.g.:

When my sister got to the front of the queue, she had been waiting for two hours. (Cuando mi hermana llegó al comienzo de la cola, llevaba esperando dos horas.)

When we arrived, Anne was in overalls because she had been cleaning the cellar. (Cuando llegamos, Anne iba vestida con un mono porque había estado limpiando la cueva.)

	See also past perfect simple, reported speech and third conditional.