Had never, have never, or never saw

ninaniaHello,

Could you tell me please if there is any difference between these two sentences?
1. I had never seen her before.
2. I never saw her before.

Is this a correct explanation? "These two sentences are used when people are referring to the past, otherwise The Present Perfect Tense is used."

Thanks

1. I had never se

Hello,

Thank you. Can I use "I have never seen" instead of "Had never seen" and instead of ''never saw" too?

Yes, you can. There is a slight difference.

Suppose you are a mechanic and fix cars. You have been in this business for a long time. A customer brings in a car with a very strange problem. Then you can say:

I've never seen this problem before.

Or suppose you are enrolled in a school, and there is a girl who has also been there for as long as you have, but you never had

Hello,

Thank you. But what if there was never the opportunity and still this is the first time it happened? Would it be a mistake to use the past simple or the past perfect and not the present perfect in this case?

And isn't it a mistake to say that another difference between these two sentences: "I had never seen her before the party last weekend" and I have never seen h

ninania"I had never seen her before the party last weekend" and I have never seen her is that only the present perfect refers to the present moment of speaking and not the past perfect?

Yes, the present perfect is relative to the present moment.

The past perfect is relative to a different moment in the past time.

I had never seen her before

Thank you very much.

Sorry that I return to the question...
If I have got this right, " I had never seen this problem in all my years working on cars " - is wrong ?

AnonymousSorry that I return to the question...If I have got this right, " I had never seen this problem in all my years working on cars " - is wrong ?

It is correct in the appropriate context.

My retired car mechanic was telling me about his experiences.

I remember one day when Buster brought in his old '59 Buick. We tried to diagnose the pr

So, I could say, "I confess: I have never seen Wales."
Or should I say "I confess: I never saw Wales."

You can say the first if only if you have never seen Wales.

You can say the second if you did not see Wales during some period in the past. You may have seen Wales since. Here is an example.

I lived in England for the first forty years of my live and I never saw Wales. Ironically, it was only after I emigrated to Austalia that I saw Wales for the first time, when I flew over f