Name: What is the difference between I was there and I had been there Learn English Grammar
Uploaded: 2015-09-04T16:28:20.000Z
Duration: 4 min 38 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

To-infinitive

Hey there! How's it going? Welcome to Go Natural English. In this English tip episode, I'm

going to answer a question from a Go Natural English community member named Chetan. Chetan

Past simple

asked, "What is the difference between "I was there" and I had been there?" That's an

awesome question, Chetan. I'm happy to help you with it. Now, this is a grammar question

and I want us to take a big picture view on this very detailed question. I think, before

I even talk about what is the difference between "I was there" and "I had been there", it's

really more important to think about the whole picture of English conversation and ask ourselves

a different question, which is, "Do people even use these tenses?" What is most common

when I want to speak with native English speakers? What am I going to need to know and what do

I want to use? Now Chetan, if you're preparing for an English grammar test, then you're going

to want to know the details about both grammar tenses. But, if you, and like most of the

Go Natural English audience wants to have excellent conversational skills for the real

world in English, then you need to know that we really only use one of these tenses which

is, "I was there" ... the simple past. We use the simple past the most out of any past

tense and we don't really use "I had been there" very often. In fact, I think this tense

is dying out. I think this tense is only kept alive by English grammar tests. So, first

of all, focus on using the simple past tense to describe actions that happened in the past.

Now to answer your question more specifically about the difference between "I was there"

and "I had been there", think about "I had been there" as happening before something

in the past. So, you have "I was there", right? Let's say, "I was in Paris in 2009 and I had

been there before, in 2005." So, I'm describing something that happened before something else

in the past. Two events -- a sequence ... first, second, that happened in the past, but "had

been" is something that happened before "was." OK? So, that is the quick and easy answer.

Now remember to focus for conversation on the simple past, not the past perfect ... we

don't use it very much, and what I really recommend to get that big picture view of

English conversation and how we actually use grammar in real life is to use English with

a native speaker, with other fluent English speakers. A great way to do that is to get

online and practice one-on-one with a qualified English teacher. My friends at Verbling have

great teachers. I actually have a couple of friends who teach over there and they're awesome

at helping you understand real, natural, native conversation in English. So, to learn more

about how you can improve your conversational skills, and never have to worry about these

details of grammar again, come over to gonaturalenglish.com/verbling to learn more about Verbling one-on-one English

lessons. And, if you come over to my website, I'd love to give you a free eBook guide that

will help you with your English fluency. So, come visit gonaturalenglish.com and you'll

see exactly how you can get your eBook right away. Thank you so much for watching and I'll

see you soon in another English tip here on YouTube. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't

yet, and watch another video while you're at it if you have another couple minutes.

Alright, thanks so much. I'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.