What is the difference between “has” and “had”, and how do you know which one to use?
If we talk about; has/have and ‘had’, these three may be used as primary verbs when they show possession in sentences. Has and have are used in the present time and had is used in the past.
For example,
I have a car. Here the use of ‘have shows that ‘I’ possess a car. Similarly, you may say:
We have a car, They have a big house to live in. The pronouns ‘he, she, it’ and the third person singular nouns may take ‘has’ as the primary verb to show possession.
But ‘had’ is used as the primary verb in the past situation with all types of subjects.
I had a car, but now i have sold it.
Primary verbs are used alone without any other verb.
If the sentence shows some action, then, has/have, and had been used in several tenses like Present Perfect Tense, Future Perfect Tense, Past Perfect Tense, Present Perfect Continuous Tense, Past Perfect Continuous Tense, and Future Perfect Continuous Tense.
Examples: Here ‘has/have and had’ are used as ‘helping verbs’.
I have done my work. (Present Perfect Tense)
She has finished eating her food. (Present Perfect Tense)
The patient had died before he was shifted to a hospital. (Past Perfect Tense)
She will have cooked food when the guests reach home tomorrow. (Future Perfect Tense)
It has been raining since morning. (Present Perfect Continuous Tense)
It had been raining since morning when I reached home yesterday. (Past Perfect Continuous Tense)
It will have been raining since morning when the guests reach home tomorrow. (Future Perfect Continuous Tense)
To make passive constructions. we also use has/have and had as helping verbs.
