What past tense of "have" do I use for the subject "they?" Is it they had or they have?

Question

ex) They had/have finished by the time Cindy came home.

Also, what past participle tense of "have" do I use for the subject "they"? Is it they had been or they have been?
ex) They had/have been eating when Cindy came home.

Answer 1

had is the correct past tense form for the example you gave. its actually in the past perfect tense
"have" is a verb in the present tense

"had been" is the past participle of have

Answer 2

Have is not past tense. In English there are only two true tenses, and they are related to, but not the same as, time indication. Past and Present are the only two true Tenses in English. All other time indications (like future) must be formed using auxillary verbs. To find the Tense of a verb phrase, just identify the tense of the first word in the verb phrase.

Now where you're running into trouble is dealing the perfect mode of verb. The past perfect and the present perfect. Perfect modes describe actions that, in some point in the sentence, become complete, or "Perfected." Thus, They have finished the candy by the time Cindy arrives home is in the Present Perfect tense, even though the past participle "finished" needs to be used.

Look up the uses of the perfect on OWL.english.perdue and people better equipped than me and explain it to you.

Answer 3

They had finished by the time Cindy came home.

Second bit is not so clear cut, both can be used correctly;
eg. They had been eating when Cindy came home, (and had finished eating and were now doing something else)
eg2. They have been eating ice cream.

Answer 4

They had been eating when cindy came home.
They have been eating when Cindy came home.
Which one sounds right? say them outloud. I'd go with have.

Answer 5

obviously had

Answer 6

they had

Answer 7

they had finished...they had been...

Answer 8

had