Past Perfect vs Past Perfect Continuous | B2 English Listening
Learn to Use Past Perfect Tenses Through My Trip to Brazil
Welcome back to another episode of the Peach Teach English Podcast! In this lesson, we’re diving into the grammar of Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous—two tenses English speakers use to describe actions and experiences in the past.
Instead of just memorizing grammar rules, you’ll hear these tenses used naturally through my real-life story about learning Portuguese, connecting with Brazilian culture, and finally traveling to Brazil. It’s a rich story full of past timelines that are perfect for showing how these tenses work in context.
Whether you're learning these tenses for the first time or are still unsure about the difference between them, this episode will give you clear explanations, real-world examples, and practical tips to feel more confident using advanced grammar in conversation.
This episode + transcript is ideal for B1–B2 English learners who want to practice listening comprehension, improve grammar through storytelling, and hear what fluent English sounds like in everyday experiences.
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00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
Welcome back to the Peach Teach English podcast. I'm Frankie Mesmer, your host, and this space is dedicated to helping you go from intermediate to fluent English. And today, we're going to be focused on a grammar topic: what's the difference between past perfect and past perfect continuous? I'm gonna start off by explaining these two tenses for you.
Then, you can stick around to listen to my stories and experiences with Brazilian culture and travel as I use this grammar naturally. You can practice your listening skills and also become more confident using this grammar. So, let's go ahead and take a look at those two grammar tenses.
00:45 – Understanding Past Perfect Tense
So, the first one is Past Perfect.
We use the past perfect to show that one past action happened before another past action. And the past perfect is formed with:
The subject + had + the past participle.
In the negative: subject + hadn’t + the past participle.
And finally, the question form we have: Had + subject + past participle.
And that is the structure.
Now, let's look at an example: By the time I arrived at the party, my friends had already eaten all of the pizza.
So, the eating finished before my arrival. This tense is really common when we want to emphasize that one action was completed first, and it's very common to use the word already.
01:48 – Exploring Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Now, let's look at the Past Perfect Continuous.
This one's very similar to the past perfect, but the main difference is we're emphasizing that there was a continuous past action. This action was in progress, and it was happening before another past action happened. It is formed with:
The subject + had + been + the verb with -ing.
In the negative: subject + hadn’t + been + the verb with -ing.
And finally, the question form we have: Had + subject + been + the verb in -ing form.
Let's look at an example: She had been training for months before she competed in the race.
So, here we're emphasizing that continuously, for a period of time, she was doing an action before she did the other action.
02:59 – Tips for Using Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous
So, here's my big tip for you, so you can see the difference. Use past perfect when you want to show that an action was completed before another action, and use the past perfect continuous when you want to emphasize that there was an action that was happening for a period of time continuously before another action.
Now you know how to use the past perfect and the past perfect continuous correctly, I'm gonna tell you about my experiences with Brazilian travel and culture. But before we do that, I just want to make a quick note that this episode is part of my B1 to B2 Study Guide. I'm guiding you step by step with different grammar and vocabulary topics to help you reach English fluency.
You can grab that FREE Study Guide by clicking the link in the description.
03:58 – Discovering Brazilian Culture: University Days
So, let's go ahead and get started with my experiences with Brazil. I want to tell you about how I became interested in Brazil and learning Portuguese. Pay attention to how and when I used the past perfect and the past perfect continuous.
When I was a university student, I started working at a Brazilian café. My bosses were Brazilian, and one of my coworkers too. They all spoke English with me, but they usually talked to each other in Portuguese, and I just really enjoyed the sound of the language. Brazilians from the community would come to the café a lot, and they were always so kind to me.
I became really intrigued by Brazilian culture and how warm and friendly everyone was. I started making friends with them and hanging out with them in my free time. I even went to a few conferences that were in Portuguese. Now, at that point, I hadn't studied Portuguese at all, so I didn't understand much.
But honestly, I just enjoyed the food, spending time with my friends, and meeting new people. On top of that, my favorite professor, Dr. Hall, was offering a Brazilian history class. I didn't even hesitate. I signed up right away. And I remember having to do a presentation for that course, and since I worked at the café, it was easy for me to bring some Brazilian goodies: Guaraná soda, pão de queijo, and I even made brigadeiros from scratch.
Let me tell you, after I had brought those treats, I became a teacher's pet. By that point, I had been working at the café for about a year, and I loved it, but I eventually quit because, you know, baristas don't make a lot of money. Even after I left, I still saw my Brazilian friends from time to time, but I wasn't surrounded by the language and culture like I had been before.
06:00 – Journey to Learning Portuguese
Fast forward to 2019, and I'm living in Colombia, and I decided to study Portuguese. I had been studying for a few months, but then I decided I was too busy, and I guess I lost motivation. But then the pandemic hit, and suddenly I had a lot of free time on my hands. So, I decided to pick up Portuguese again.
I was passionate and committed this time. I even made a goal that after the pandemic, I would go to Brazil and finally use my Portuguese. By the time I planned that trip, I had been studying for two years. I'd been practicing every week with my language tutors, Mitch and Sandy, and sometimes I'd call my Brazilian friend Welerson.
I'd also been teaching a bunch of Brazilian students who were so excited to hear I spoke Portuguese, and they would give me their best tips for my trip to Brazil.
06:56 – Planning the Trip to Brazil
After I had spoken to many of my Brazilian friends and students, it was finally time to decide on the itinerary and start buying my flights.
Let me tell you, it was really hard to choose the destinations. Brazil is such a massive country, and there was no way I could do it all. I had to be realistic. After I had done some deep thinking, I narrowed it down to five places: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Iguaçu Falls, Lençóis Maranhenses, and Salvador da Bahia.
I chose Rio and São Paulo because they're two of the most influential cities in Brazil—culturally, economically, and historically.
And I picked Iguaçu Falls and Lençóis Maranhenses because I had learned about them in my Brazilian history class, and I had been dreaming of visiting them ever since. These weren't just tourist spots to me—they were places I had connected with while studying and working at the café.
Finally, I chose Salvador because it was one of the first capitals of Brazil, and it's full of Afro-Brazilian culture—the music, the religion, the traditions. And honestly, I also wanted to eat everything.
And the final question was: when should I go? Since I had been studying Portuguese for a few years and learning about Brazilian culture, I remembered that one of my Brazilian tutors had told me about a popular festival called Festa Junina, which basically means June parties.
These festivals celebrate Catholic Saints and take place all over Brazil throughout the month of June. They're especially popular in the Northeast region, where they're known for their music, dancing, food, and amazing decorations.
After I had heard about these celebrations and seen the pictures, I knew I wanted to experience it for myself. And as a bonus, my birthday is in June, so it felt like the perfect time to go.
After I had made these big decisions, I bought my flights and booked my hotels—except in São Paulo, where I stayed with two of my students from Cambly, who so kindly opened their home to my wife and me.
09:16 – Experiencing Rio de Janeiro
I had been looking forward to this trip for months, and when the day finally came, it felt like a dream come true. I had been dreaming of this experience since I was 20 years old.
So, when I first got to Brazil, it was an incredible feeling. But I had to wait a moment to check into the hotel, so I dropped off my luggage in the lobby, took a taxi, and walked around Copacabana.
Now, originally, I hadn't even planned on visiting Rio. A lot of people had told me it was dangerous and advised me not to go. But flights from Medellín, where I live, were much cheaper to Rio, so I figured I might as well enjoy the city—and I'm so glad that I had made that choice.
Rio is an incredible place. There's really something for everyone. Whether you want to relax on the beach, try extreme sports, or go shopping, there's so much to do.
Some of the things I did were visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue and Sugarloaf Mountain, which were unforgettable. I also went to the Botanical Garden with one of my students and her mom. I had been teaching her for a few years before going to Brazil, so it was really special to finally give her and her mom a hug in real life.
I visited several beaches in Rio, enjoyed some local beer and caipirinhas, and of course tried so many traditional Brazilian dishes like feijoada, tapioca, pastel, açaí, and more.
We also went hiking on Gávea Rock, but I didn't make it to the top because I'm a little afraid of heights. But yeah, that pretty much wrapped up my experience in Rio.
11:04 – Adventures in São Paulo
And so next was São Paulo. I was really excited because, as I had mentioned before, I was going to stay with two of my students—a married couple named Ana and Danilo—and I had been looking forward to meeting them in person for a long time, and I had such a lovely time staying with them.
While I was in São Paulo, I also got to see two of my other students, Jessica and Wallace. And the four of them threw me a birthday party and taught me some fun Brazilian traditions, like giving the first piece of a cake to someone special. Oh, and it was a brigadeiro cake—absolutely delicious.
I also got to try the famous São Paulo pizza, which definitely lived up to the hype. Some other highlights of my time in São Paulo were visiting a photography museum—an exhibit by Sebastião Salgado.
This was especially meaningful because I had learned about him in my Brazilian history class, and I really admired his work, especially his photos of the Amazon.
And we also explored downtown São Paulo, and I got to ride the famous metro, and we visited Liberdade, which is a neighborhood known for its Japanese culture.
And I got to eat at a Japanese buffet, which was so good. And Ana and Danilo also took us to another interactive museum where we could create our own art and put it up on the wall. So that was a fun experience too.
Oh, and they even took us to a samba bar with live music, where I tried to dance samba for the first time. One of the last things we did in São Paulo was attend a Festa Junina. It was bright, colorful, and full of amazing food. Someone even taught me some basic forró dance moves, which made it even more memorable.
So, São Paulo really was an amazing experience—not just because of the city, but because of my wonderful students who welcomed me and made sure I had a blast and felt truly loved.
13:12 – Exploring Iguaçu Falls
Next, I went to Iguaçu Falls, which really had a deep place in my heart because I had seen photos and videos of it back in my Brazilian history class, and I had taken a mental note: I want to see Iguaçu one day.
So once we arrived and got settled in the hotel there in Foz do Iguaçu, we went to O Marco das Três Fronteiras, which is the point where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet, and you can see all three countries from one spot.
My Uber driver that day was really sweet, and so I asked her if she would be willing to take us to the Argentine side of Iguaçu the next day, and she agreed. We woke up early the next day, as we had planned, and she came to pick us up. She took us there, and it really was such a perfect day—getting to feel the mist from the falls on my face and skin, breathing in the air of the place.
Really, I had finally achieved a goal that I had been dreaming about for nearly nine years, and it felt surreal.
Since we were in Argentina, I really wanted to try the famous Argentinian beef and wine. So we went out for dinner, and then later the taxi driver came back—but this time with her boyfriend and her friend—and they took us out for snacks and drinks to celebrate my birthday with me.
It was such a really nice gesture and just another sign of how incredibly kind Brazilians can be.
The next day, I got to explore the Brazilian side of the falls. What makes that side really special is the panoramic view. You can just really take in how massive and powerful the waterfalls are.
After enjoying the falls, we went to a bird park where we could see different species, like toucans and macaws, and other ones I'd never heard of before. And that was a really beautiful experience too.
So those were some of my favorite memories in Iguaçu.
15:12 – The Beauty of Lençóis Maranhenses
Then, it was off to Lençóis Maranhenses. Let's just say getting to Barreirinhas, where Lençóis Maranhenses is located, was a bit complicated, but it's totally worth it.
This was another place I had first seen in photos during my Brazilian history class, and like I did with Iguaçu, I made a mental note to add it to my bucket list. So, to actually go there felt like another dream come true.
After we had been riding in the kart over the sand for hours, we finally reached the lagoons—and wow.
It was so cool to swim in this place that felt absolutely remote and angelic. The sand was so white, the water was so clear, and there was this quiet that made the whole experience feel otherworldly.
Mmm. We also got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset out there in the dunes. So, if you ever go to Brazil, I highly recommend visiting this place.
It's like nothing else.
16:15 – Final Stop: Salvador da Bahia
And finally, last but not least—because it was my favorite city I visited—was Salvador da Bahia.
We visited the lighthouse, ate moqueca (my favorite Brazilian dish), and I tried vatapá. I walked on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful shores in Bahia.
I also got to explore the colonial architecture of Pelourinho and visited the Carnival Museum, which was special because you got to listen to these audio tours in Portuguese. And since I had studied the language for so many years, it was really cool to finally get to put that into practice.
16:51 – Conclusion and Reflections
And really, guys, every corner of Brazil was an unforgettable experience. I'd been wanting to visit this country for years, and to finally be there—walking around, speaking Portuguese, and meeting my lovely students—was incredible. If you're dreaming of visiting a place, my advice is: make it happen. And if you want to learn the local language, do it, because it makes the experience so much deeper and more meaningful.
This episode has definitely given me saudades—basically, a word in Portuguese that expresses that nostalgic longing for past times.
Have you ever dreamed of visiting a place and made your dream come true? Let me know in the comments: what place was it, and what was the experience like? I'd love to hear your stories.
And be sure to practice with the past perfect and the past perfect continuous in your own storytelling. I also recommend re-listening to this episode with the transcript, linked in the description. You can highlight examples of past perfect and past perfect continuous, and really notice how I use them throughout the story. You'll also find a grammar explanation and some practice activities to help you review and apply what you've learned today.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about my trip to Brazil and learning how to use the past perfect and past perfect continuous. Thanks for joining me today, and I'll see you in the next episode.
🔁 Past Perfect vs Past Perfect Continuous Study Guide
Below, you will find an explanation of the past perfect and the past perfect continuous. You will learn about when to use them, their structure, and see examples. You will also find practice activities to help you master these structures.
✅ What Is the Past Perfect?
We use the past perfect to show that one action was completed before another action in the past.
Structure:
Positive:
Subject + had + past participle
👉 I had finished my homework before dinner.
Negative:
Subject + hadn’t + past participle
👉 She hadn’t seen that movie before last night.
Question:
Had + subject + past participle?
👉 Had you eaten before the class?
📌 Examples from the Podcast:
By the time I arrived at the party, my friends had already eaten all the pizza.
After I had spoken to my Brazilian friends, I started booking flights.
✅ What Is the Past Perfect Continuous?
We use the past perfect continuous to show that an action was in progress for a period of time before another action in the past.
Structure:
Positive:
Subject + had + been + verb(-ing)
👉 She had been studying Portuguese for two years.
Negative:
Subject + hadn’t + been + verb(-ing)
👉 He hadn’t been sleeping well before the exam.
Question:
Had + subject + been + verb(-ing)?
👉 Had they been waiting long before the train arrived?
📌 Examples from the Podcast:
I had been working at the café for about a year.
By the time I planned that trip, I had been studying for two years.
⚖️ Past Perfect vs Past Perfect Continuous Comparison
Now, you know how to use the past perfect and past perfect continuous. Let's compare when to use each structure appropriately.
Past Perfect:
✔️ Focuses on completion of one past action before another.
✔️ Emphasizes that something was done.
Common Words: before, after, by the time, already, just, when
Examples:
👉 I had finished dinner before he arrived.
👉 She had already left when I called.
🧠 Think: What happened first?
Past Perfect Continuous:
✔️ Focuses on the duration or continuity of a past action before another.
✔️ Emphasizes that something was in progress.
Common Words: for, since, before, by the time
Examples:
👉 She had been working there for three years before she quit.
👉 I had been learning Portuguese since 2019.
🧠 Think: How long had something been happening?
🕒 Practice Time!
Use these questions to spark a meaningful conversation with a tutor, language partner, or friend:
What’s your greatest achievement?
How long had you been working toward that goal before you achieved it?
What had you done in order to achieve it?
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