Great question. This is a matter of aspect. Aspect is like tense in that it refers to and orients the listener to the time of the verb but is a bit more complicated in its usage and its time references. Have, has, had are all perfect aspect, but there are two kinds of aspect here, present and past (English does not have a future tense or aspect). Present perfect (have, has): actions in the past that continue to the present. Past perfect (had): actions in the past that ended at or before a specific time in the past. jumped – past jump - present has jumped - present perfect had jumped - past perfect was jumping - past progressive has been jumping - present perfect progressive had been jumping - past perfect progressive Perfect combines with progressive aspect to indicate a new meaning. Perfect progressive is some form of have + be + ing verb (i.e. "have been" comming, "has been" working and "had been" raining). The progressive aspect is used when you are talking about a something that is currently going on at some point in time (and has started in the past). So while it is not Christmas now I can say "Christmas HAS BEEN celebrated for a very long time" because it currently still celebrated. have been is present perfect progressive and would be used when... ? (You are talking about actions in the past that continue to the present - a way to emphasize duration.) Ex, We have been coming here for years. It can also be used to describe the same situation that has just ended. Ex, We have been coming here for years (but this will be our last visit). has been is present perfect progressive so it can be used to ...? Ex, He is tired because he has been working all day. had been is past perfect progressive so it can be used to...? When you are talking about something that has started in the past, continues into the present, but has ended - it is a way to emphasize the duration of the activity. Ex, It had been raining for hours before dawn got home.

We have been playing chess for 5 hours. She has been winning for the past hour. Though I had been winning, she slowly figured me out.