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Pleasehelp Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Hadn't/haven't

I met up with a few friends I haven't seen in over 15 years.

I met up with a few friends I hadn't seen in over 15 years.

What's the different between the two sentences and which one is correct?
  

Top answer

The second version is correct. The 15-year period during which you didn't see them occurred before your meeting. "I met" is already past tense, so the past perfect ("I hadn't seen") is necessary to step further back in time.

— Mr Wordy

  • The second version is correct.
  • The 15-year period during which you didn't see them occurred before your meeting.
  • "I met" is already past tense, so the past perfect ("I hadn't seen") is necessary to step further back in time.
  • The first version is intelligible, and would be understood to mean the same thing, but it's inferior.
  • "I haven't seen" implies that you still haven't seen them, which can't be true because the meeting happened in the past ("I met").
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1 Answers
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The second version is correct. The 15-year period during which you didn't see them occurred before your meeting. "I met" is already past tense, so the past perfect ("I hadn't seen") is necessary to step further back in time.

The first version is intelligible, and would be understood to mean the same thing, but it's inferior. "I haven't seen" implies that you still haven't s
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