"have told" vs "had told"

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Q: Why did not you tell me ?

A:I have/had told you once

which one is correct had told you or have told you???

2

Hi!

As a native English speaker, I know that I would say “I’d (already) told you once” in response to “Why didn’t you tell me?”, however either is acceptable and I suppose it depends on the context.

Hope this has helped a little! aha :smiley:

3

Hi rahulpayne

First of all, you can say either of the following:
Q: Why did you not tell me?
Q: Why didn’t you tell me?

You cannot say this:
Why [color=red]did not you tell me?

Personally, I don’t think either the present perfect or the past perfect would be be used in a typical response to the question “Why didn’t you tell me?” I think it more likely that the response would be in the simple past tense – something like one of these:

A: I did tell you! I told you about it as soon as I knew.
A: I did! I told you last week.
.

4

Hi Rahulpayne,

It’s standard practice to answer a question in the same tense as the one used in the question as in:

Have you understood? Yes, I have.
Are you going there? Yes, I am
Hadn’t you realised that earlier? No, I hadn’t.

And so on.

Alan

5

thanks a lot sir

but what if i am not sure about it?
Would it be correct to say “i am not sure but i think i had/have told you about it/this earlier?”

or is there is any other way to say the same sentence briefly without losing its meaning?

6

Hi rahulpayne

Try this:
Q: Why didn’t you tell me?
A: I think I did. / I thought I had.
.