Learn English – Usage of ‘had’ and ‘have’

past-tensetense

I am currently writing an essay about our national hero but I am not sure whether to use 'had' or 'have' in this sentence:

He may have died early, but he sure have/had contributed a lot for our country.

Best Answer

If you use has (note that have is used for I, you, we, they), implies there's a result in the present. If you use had, implies that an event passed before another event in the past.

After he died, the contribution he made happened before.
Now may have died is for possibility in the past, perhaps dead or not, he made the contribution before.

Related Topic