Hola amigos
Can anyone tell me if the following three sentences employ a valid Spanish construction.
He estado leyendo muchos libros interesantes.
Mi hermano ha estado comprando demasiada ropa.
Hemos estado buscando nuestro diccionario.
I have not been able to find any mention of these compound tenses in any of my grammar books, so I am wondering if they are just a figment of my imagination. Maybe they are examples of too literal a translation of the English construction. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
IS THIS A REAL SPANISH TENSE?

Tango
August 21, 2013

oscar-lake
August 21, 2013
I am sure they exist. They just aren't used much. They are the past perfect progressive. More often just expressed in the presente de indicativo or imperfecto. estoy leyendo o estaba leyendo. see this http://spanish.about.com/od/verbtenses/a/compound-past-tenses.htm