<p>when do you use the word had vs just the past tense verb </p>
<p>ie. gave vs have given</p>
<p>Whenever you have words such as: is, are, had, have, has, was, were before the verb ... you use the past particle ie. (given, drunk, spoken)...</p>
<p>have drunk
have not spoken
are seen
is seen
were seen
have seen</p>
<p>well, when present tense (i.e. those helping verbs as rosh420 said), u use have sth, but when past, just past tense.</p>