I had been to Japan before, but that was the first time I went with my wife. 爲什麽要用had been?

因為have been意思係過去嘅行動至今仍繼續或與現在有關
但係had been意思係唔會再發生或與現在無關
例如：I have been to Japan before.(即是仍有機會回去多次，與現在有關）
I had studied in primary school.(即是我曾在小學讀書，但我唔會再係小學讀，可能因為我已經係中學生，與現在無關）
係呢個情況下，我曾去日本，但係由於以前都係一個人去，呢次係我第一次帶妻子去，即係意味以前獨自一人去日本已與現在無關，所以用had been。

I had been to Japan before, but that was the first time I went with my wife.

我以前曾經去過日本, 但那是我第一次和太太一起去的。


為什麽不用has been?

☆ 因為那是發生在過去的事情, 所以要用「過去完成式的had been.」

☆「現在完成式」一般是🈯️某動作由"過去"開始一至延續到"現在"或者是"説話的那一刻"。

例: The farm has been handed down from father to son since 1800.
該農場自1800年起一直代代相傳。

perfect tense:=those composed of have + pp,
eg:-He has/had/will have been to J
=(present, past,future tense).
The past perfect tense:-
eg:-I had had, I had been, He had had, He had been.
When two actions happened in the past one after another, we use the past perfect tense for the first action.
eg:-When I went with my wife, I had been to J before.
It shows a completed action(had been) before a stated time in the past
(went)
eg:=Hence:-I had been to J before , but that was the first time I went with my wife.

非用 had been 不可了，因為它被that was綁住了，這樣想吧 – 不用看文法書
去日本是一段時間吧，不管三天或五天，時間上是由A點到B點，符合所謂完成式的概念。現在關鍵來了，請問您B點是現在還是過去，答案是過去 – 因為您強調B點在過去 - that was，好了過去完成式被逼出來了。
句子改成：
I have been to Japan with my wife.
I have been to Japan with my wife before.
I have been to Japan with my wife months ago.
以上三句沒人強調B 點在過去，就可說是現在。就用一般中文的邏輯 – 我去過日本/我之前去過日本/幾個月前去過日本 – 沒有關鍵因素要強調”去過”是在過去某一點前(過去完成式的基本理論)
我不懂文法，希望您以不懂文法之英語思維去了解英文

had been 是“過去完成”時態，除了講歷史事件，一般有“讓步”語氣，好像現在的提問，後跟 but 連詞。

二件事情發生在過去,先發生的用過去完成式,後發生的用過去簡單式
先發生的用過去完成式:I" had been" to Japan before
後發生的用過去簡單式:but that "was" the first time I "went" with my wife.

可到我的網站看看,我會不定期的分享一些文法觀念,實用英文句子及單字的用法:
https://www.facebook.com/kuan1000/