Past/ Past Perfect
I know this is a little weird... I was born in the US but still don't quite fully understand grammar structure in some cases. I've always used "haven't" followed by -ed to speak of the past. For an example: I have never heard of it. I have never been there before. I have not eaten dinner. On another site I accidentally ran into people wrote: I had never heard of it. I had not eaten dinner. I had never been there before. I just want to know which is right and when to use have/ had. I know had is past tense... so don't go too deep into it. I just want to know specifically the different meanings of have/had. For an example what's the differences between "I had it before but now I lost it" vs "I've had it before but now I lost it". I'd usually go with the second one... though not sure if it is any different. To me saying "have had" sounds like phrasing "I used to have it but not anymore". Can anyone be more specific with examples?