Exercices de grammaire › Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Le past perfect continu : questions fermées
480 exercices à trous, 48 tests de dix
Placez had devant le sujet. Been et la forme en -ing restent ensemble.
Entraînez-vous sur cette forme
Chargement…
Votre première question arrive.
Le schéma
Seul had se déplace :
You had been waiting. → Had you been waiting?
La réponse courte reprend had
Had he been drinking? — Yes, he had. / No, he hadn’t.
Lire les indices du passé
La question demande d’ordinaire ce qui explique un état constaté :
- Had it been raining? The roads were soaked.
- Had they been arguing? Nobody was speaking.
Vous n’interrogez pas le passé pour lui-même, mais la cause d’une chose déjà établie.
How long, dans la question
Ajouter long en fait une question de durée sans mot interrogatif :
Had you been waiting long? — une façon polie de s’excuser d’être en retard.
Où ça coince pour un francophone
L’inversion porte sur had, et votre plus-que-parfait s’inverse pareil. « Avaient-ils attendu ? » → Had they been waiting? : même mouvement. L’erreur Did you had been waiting? ne vient pas du français.
« Il avait plu ? » demande le continu. Pour la cause d’un état constaté, le français emploie le plus-que-parfait et l’anglais ce temps-ci :
| français | anglais |
|---|---|
| Il avait plu ? Les routes étaient trempées. | Had it been raining? The roads were soaked. |
| Ils s’étaient disputés ? Personne ne parlait. | Had they been arguing? Nobody was speaking. |
| Il avait bu ? | Had he been drinking? |
La forme simple existe aussi — Had it rained? — mais elle demande un fait, pas une explication de ce qu’on a sous les yeux.
« Vous attendiez depuis longtemps ? » est la question la plus utile. C’est la formule d’excuse quand on arrive en retard :
Vous attendiez depuis longtemps ? → Had you been waiting long?
Imparfait français, past perfect continu anglais. Et long se passe de préposition : ni for long, ni since long, dans la question.
Après been, toujours un -ing. Had you been waiting long?, jamais wait. C’est la deuxième erreur, et une relecture l’attrape.
Toutes les formes
| Sujet | Question | Réponse courte, oui | Réponse courte, non |
|---|---|---|---|
| tous les sujets | Had they been waiting? | Yes, they had. | No, they hadn't. |
Exemples
Tirés des 480 phrases de cet exercice. La réponse est surlignée.
- Had my mother been making soup every Friday?
- Had they been traveling for hours before they reached their destination?
- Had they been watching the movie when the power went out?
- Had she been playing that video game before her mother came home?
- Had you been reading that book for weeks before you finished it?
- Had they been attending the show before it got canceled?
- Had he been working out at the gym for two hours before he felt tired?
- Had he been listening to the song for weeks before it became popular?
- Had he been writing the report before the meeting started?
- Had they been doing gardening before it started raining?
- Had he been waiting for her phone call all day long?
- Had she been cooking dinner before her guests arrived?
Erreurs à éviter
Incorrect : Did you had been waiting? correct : Had you been waiting?
Had pose sa propre question.
Incorrect : Had you been wait long? correct : Had you been waiting long?
Le verbe principal a besoin de -ing.