Quick tips for the Present Perfect / Past perfect Example: Have been=present perfect I often think of the present perfect as the "present past." Have brings you to the moment, but been holds you in the past. I have been tired all day. This event was in the past, but it is also current! It might even continue into the future. Past------------------Present-----------------------Future x---------------------------x¿----->? In this sentence you not only "have tired now" (don't use this :P) but you "been tired before." This is a ungrammatical but helpful view of the tense. Had been= past perfect It might help to think of the past perfect as the "past past." I had been tired before I took that nap! Past-------------------present-----------------------future X-----------X Y! In this sentence, X occurred for a period of time before Y! interrupted (in the past)!