Have, had or has been? (When to use the Perfect Tenses in English) (2023)

FAQs

When to use had and has been? ›

“Had been” is used to mean that something happened in the past and has already ended. “Have been” and “has been” are used to mean that something began in the past and has lasted into the present time.

The present perfect continuous is formed with have/has been and the -ing form of the verb. We normally use the present perfect continuous to emphasise that something is still continuing in the present: She has been living in Liverpool all her life. It's been raining for hours.

The past perfect continuous is made from had been and the -ing form of a verb: I had been working there for a year. They had been painting the bedroom.

Reminder: have been is the present perfect tense of to be, and have gone is the present perfect tense of to go. However, in some contexts, the meanings can be different. I have been refers to a completed journey (or journeys) in the past. I have gone can refer to a journey from which the speaker has not yet returned.

Let's start with the present perfect progressive. You form the present perfect progressive by using have been (or has been) followed by an –ing verb. For instance, “She has been sitting in class since early this morning.” The action, sitting, is continuing. But the emphasis is on the completed part of the action.

By adding another participle after the past participle “been,” we form the present perfect and past perfect continuous tenses. Thus, “has been” is in the present perfect continuous or progressive tense, while “had been” is the past perfect continuous or progressive tense. He has been to the store.

No, you have to use the fourth form of verb i.e Verb+ing form of verb after have been. Eg.

When you use was or been you are creating a past participle, so you need to use the past participle form of the verb. The same rule applies with the past perfect: Incorrect example: it had been knew. Correct example: it had been known.

As a general rule, “has” is used in the third person singular (“he”, “she”, “it”) and singular nouns. Anas has been working in this company for more than 10 years. [He is still working here.] She has been notified about the changes in the document.

The difference between “have been” and “have” is that whereas “have been” is a “verbal phrase,” “have” is an independent verb which indicates possession. Again, whereas “have” is used as a simple present tense indicative verb, “have been” is used as a verbal phrase to form the present perfect tense. USAGE.

Do we say had been or has been? ›

Has been is the form used with a third person singular subject (including the pronouns she, he, and it—but not singular they). Have been is the form used with any other subject (including the pronouns I, we, and they). Had been is the past perfect form of be and is used regardless of the subject.

Had is the past tense and past participle of have1. Had is sometimes used instead of 'if' to begin a clause which refers to a situation that might have happened but did not. For example, the clause 'had she been elected' means the same as 'if she had been elected'. 3.

We would use have been when the sentence subject is I, you, we, or the third person plural (the children have been studying grammar all morning; they have been studying all morning). If the sentence subject is a third-person singular noun (he, she, it, Courtney), we would use the phrase has been.

“Has been” is in the present perfect or present perfect continuous tense, while “had been” is in the past perfect or past perfect continuous tense. Meanwhile, we can use “have been” for the present perfect or future perfect tenses (source).

We use the past perfect continuous to talk about actions or events which started before a particular time in the past and were still in progress up to that time in the past: It was so difficult to get up last Monday for school. I had been working on my essays the night before and I was very tired.

[M] [T] I had to walk home. [M] [T] I wish I had a car. [M] [T] We had lovely meal. [M] [T] He had already gone.