Past perfect simple o continuous: resultado y duración
28 preguntas · opción múltiple, huecos, transformar frases, verdadero o falso y relacionar · corrección al instante
Opción múltiple
Reconstruye el relato
Elige la forma que encaja con el contexto y con la información que se quiere destacar.
By the time the curator arrived, the cleaners all six rooms; none remained to be done.
At the moment the lights went out, I down the stairs; I was only halfway down.
When I opened the safe, I realised someone the papers before my arrival.
They were out of breath because they . Choose the form that explicitly emphasises the ongoing activity before they stopped.
Before that evening, I the caretaker for ten years.
The doorbell rang, I put down my book and to the door.
Completar
Simple o continuous
Conjuga el verbo en past perfect simple si se indica resultado o estado, y en past perfect continuous si se indica actividad en curso.
By noon, the lab twelve samples. (analyse; resultado completo)
His hands were covered in clay because he a vase. (make; actividad en curso antes de ese momento)
I such a convincing imitation before that performance. (never / hear; experiencia anterior)
When the signal finally returned, we for an hour. (wait; actividad en curso hasta ese momento)
She the painting for years before she sold it. (own; estado)
The engineer couldn't issue the certificate because she the final inspection. (not / complete; resultado pendiente)
Transformación
Mira hacia atrás
Completa sin cambiar el significado. Usa entre dos y cinco palabras, incluida la palabra clave sin cambiarla, y past perfect simple o continuous según lo indicado. Las contracciones cuentan como sus formas completas. No sustituyas por sinónimos las palabras de la frase original.
The rehearsal began two hours before we arrived and was still in progress.
BEEN
When we arrived, they for two hours.
First the guests left; then we discovered the missing vase.
ALREADY
When we discovered the missing vase, the guests .
It was her first visit to a working observatory.
NEVER
She a working observatory before.
The rain started at dawn and continued until the match was cancelled at noon.
RAINING
By the time the match was cancelled at noon, it since dawn.
The last time I ate was before the journey began.
EATEN
By the end of the journey, I since it began.
The technician finished the repair before the museum opened.
HAD
By the time the museum opened, the technician the repair.
Verdadero o falso
Revisa el pasado anterior
Marca Verdadero si la frase es gramaticalmente correcta y Falso si contiene un error.
By the time the guests arrived, we had already laid the table.
She had been owned the warehouse for a decade before selling it.
They had been arguing for an hour when the mediator intervened.
He hadn't wrote the conclusion when the deadline passed.
We had been waiting since two hours when the gate opened.
Relacionar
Lee la cronología
Relaciona cada frase con lo que expresa sobre la cronología: resultado, duración, acción en curso, estado o secuencia.
Pulsa un elemento de la izquierda y después su pareja de la derecha.
Explicación
Los narrative tenses permiten contar qué ocurrió, qué estaba sucediendo y qué había ocurrido antes. El past perfect mira hacia atrás desde un punto del pasado; no significa simplemente «algo de hace mucho tiempo».
La línea principal y el fondo
| Tiempo | Función habitual | Ejemplo |
|---|---|---|
| past simple | Sucesos que hacen avanzar el relato | I unlocked the drawer and found a note. |
| past continuous | Acción en curso o fondo | The caretaker was sweeping the corridor. |
| past perfect simple | Hecho anterior, resultado o estado | Someone had hidden the key inside a book. |
| past perfect continuous | Actividad anterior, duración o causa visible | They had been searching for hours. |
- I was crossing the courtyard when I heard a crash.
- I recognised the voice because I had heard it on the radio.
Past perfect simple: had + participio
Destaca que algo estaba completado antes del punto pasado de referencia, o describe un estado anterior.
- By the time the rescue team arrived, the villagers had built a temporary bridge.
- She had owned the shop for twenty years when she retired.
La negativa es hadn’t + participio y la pregunta, Had + sujeto + participio?: Had anyone checked the roof before the storm?
Past perfect continuous: had been + -ing
Destaca una actividad que se prolongó hasta un momento pasado o terminó poco antes. No garantiza por sí solo que se completara la tarea.
- The floor was wet because we had been washing the windows.
- We had been repairing the boat for weeks when the owner returned. (no sabemos si estaba terminada)
Compara They had repaired three boats: el número de resultados completos favorece la forma simple. Verbos de estado como know, believe y own normalmente también usan la simple, aunque haya duración.
La elección depende del enfoque
Con algunas actividades, ambas formas son posibles: I had worked / had been working there for years. La continua enfoca el proceso; la simple puede presentar el periodo como un hecho completo. Por eso conviene apoyar la elección en el contexto, no solo en palabras como for o since.
Cuando before o after ya hacen evidente el orden, a veces basta el past simple: After I locked the office, I went home. No necesitas mantener el past perfect durante todo el relato: úsalo para establecer la anterioridad y vuelve a la línea principal cuando corresponda.
Truco: evita had been knew o had been worked para una actividad continua. La estructura es had + been + forma en -ing: had been working. Para una experiencia anterior usa had + participio: had known.