They have paid vs They had paid

The phrases 'they have paid' and 'they had paid' are both correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'They have paid' is used to indicate an action that was completed recently or in the past with relevance to the present. On the other hand, 'they had paid' is used to indicate an action that was completed before another past action. So, the choice between the two depends on the timeline of the events being described.

Last updated: April 07, 2024 • 271 views

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to indicate an action that was completed recently or in the past with relevance to the present.

"They have paid"

Use 'they have paid' when you want to indicate that the action of paying was completed recently or in the past with relevance to the present.

Examples:

They have paid the bill already.
I can see that they have paid for the tickets.
Have they paid for the services rendered?
She has paid her dues on time.
They have paid their debts in full.

Show examples from the web [+]

They have paid such a heavy price to make Coal Valley their home.
They have paid out over $500 million dollars in winnings since beginning, making it one of the biggest in the industry.
The greater loss is obviously to the Lebanese people, for they have paid the heaviest price in human lives and infrastructure.
To whom can European citizens turn when they see a sign for huge and perhaps useless works bearing the words 'funded by the European Union' and they think of the money they have paid in taxes?
They have paid doctors to be listed as the authors of journal articles that are written by ghost writers, a practice that was extensively documented in court records from a lawsuit against the Pfizer corporation.
They can expect more free storage option as they have paid enough for the hardware.
We also know that they have paid for their services in cash.
Cases often arise where consumers are disappointed when they do not obtain the services for which they have paid in advance.
The driver and the passengers must subscribe a travel insurance, that is free if they have paid their airline tickets by credit card.
On 70 million euros poured from the Italian enterprises - it has explained the association - those of transport they have paid the more considerable quota.
It says that they have concluded the investigation, and they have paid.
For their refusal, they have paid a heavy price, including serving jail time, and labeled "traitors."
The people of Egypt are now reliant upon the army to come forward and deliver free and fair elections, to bring about the sort of society that they have paid for with their lives and blood.
So they have paid you at last, have they?
Asks that those brave women who have chosen peaceful forms of resistance not be forgotten, since they have paid, and are still paying, for their resistance by imprisonment, house arrest or kidnapping;
Every time that the objectives are centred on other things, the price demanded for people and peoples has been exorbitant and they have paid with their lives, their development and the future of their families and communities.
They have paid, with their lives.
They have paid for having a good time.
They have paid the highest possible price for this ongoing problem that is familiar to us all.
(a) They have paid all taxes owed to the Portuguese State;

Alternatives:

they paid
they have made the payment
they have settled the bill
they have cleared the dues
they have covered the expenses

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English to indicate an action that was completed before another past action.

"They had paid"

Use 'they had paid' when you want to indicate that the action of paying was completed before another past action.

Examples:

They had paid the bill before the due date.
I realized they had paid for the repairs already.
Had they paid for the services before the issue arose?
She had paid her dues before the deadline.
They had paid their debts in full by the end of the year.

Show examples from the web [+]

Paypal had informed me that they had paid EA SWISS EARL $ 54,99 AUD money for an order.
Originally the Italian Championships, played in April in Rome, was part of the Grand Prix calendar but it was withdrawn during the tournament when it became known that they had paid management fees to the competing World Championship Tennis organization.
The Naga kings, earnestly desiring to show their reverence for most excellent law, as they had paid honor to former Buddhas, now went to greet the Bodhisattva.
They caught them while they were still in some guy's car, whom they had paid to take them on the other side of the border.
So they continued the commission with you, and then you began to work the rest out for yourself, and stupidly decided, in your arrogance, to self-righteously paint the indictment within the very commission they had paid you for, and for what end?
If they had paid her any attention, they'd have seen she was special.
Two agents, Teni Yerima and Peter Harrison, were secretly filmed, each separately claiming that they had paid Allardyce through his son.
When Setanta GB collapsed as a result of an unworkable business model, many people lost money they had paid in advance for the service.
This ruling meant that the Kingdom of Spain had to refund all non-residents the taxes they had paid in breach of the Treaty.
The hotel did not refund them the difference between the services they had paid for and those actually provided, although it was little enough to demand for this.
The commune had commissioned a hundred cold binoculars; they had paid for it with fruit and items to barter.
Some were left holding contracts to purchase tulips at prices now ten times greater than those on the open market, while others found themselves in possession of bulbs now worth a fraction of the price they had paid.
Gloucester had forced a change to the conditions of the Dictum, whereby the disinherited were allowed to recover their lands before they had paid their fines rather than after; an arrangement that made repayment much easier.
Clients have thus found themselves unable to take holidays they had paid for, and a number of complaints have already been lodged involving sums ranging from EUR 600 to EUR 6500.
In practice, the tariff system worked as follows. The beneficiaries sent the Equalisation Fund detailed monthly data on the quantities of electricity they had consumed and the prices they had paid to their power suppliers.
She didn't offer to give the security deposit back they had paid and my parents thought that the extra $450 allowed to pay for a new mattress.

Alternatives:

they had made the payment
they had settled the bill
they had cleared the dues
they had covered the expenses
they had fulfilled the financial obligations

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They have paid vs They had paid

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"They had paid"

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