Have or Had ?

Question

hi !Thanks for reading my question ya =)okay i am always confused about the use of HAVE and HAD..When should i use HAVE and when should i use HAD?What is the difference between the following sentences?I had been searching for you for a long time.I have been searching for you for a long time.I do really wish that i can get a well explanation here, thanks !have a nice day

Englishmaven · Accepted Answer

When you use "have" or "has" with the past participle, you get the present perfect tense, which is a kind of past tense. It covers the time from some point in the past up until the present.

You have been studying English for some time now.
I have taught English for a very long time.
He has forgotten to take his medicine.

When you use "had" with the past participle, you get the past perfect tense, which is a past tense that happens before another past tense. It is a previous past. It happened before something else happened.

The man was so anxious to speak with the manager that he had called four times before the manager even arrived at work that day. (He did the calling before the manager arrived.)

Jack had bought his car before he passed the driving test.

It isn't always necessary to use the past perfect. Sometimes we can just use the simple past in both cases.

Jack bought his car before he passed the driving test.

The past perfect emphasizes the way time is expressed and perceived a little differently, and sometimes you need to do that to clarify the order of events.

Many peope use the past perfect incorrectly because they will use it when there is no need to express a previous past. That is a common error by non-native speakers of English.

I hope this clears this all up for you.

CalifJim · Answer

I have been searching = from some time in the past until now
I had been searching = from some time in the past until some other later time in the past

Use "have been" when you are talking from the point of view of the present.
Use "had been" when you are talking from the point of view of the past.

When you find who you are looking for: Where have you been? I have been searching for you all day!

Telling the story later: I didn't know where you had gone. I had been searching for you all day. Finally I found you and asked you, as you remember, where you had been.

The use of "had" forms the past perfect tense. Here are some posts about the past perfect:

See

See
See
See

CJ

Pyrene · Answer

Thanks Englishmaven and CalifJim !
your explanations are so complete and detailed !
I'll always be here so that i can gain much more knowledge about ENGLISH !
Thank you, you guys are awesome [Y]

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