Hey, where have you been? I have called you several times. You have been unavailable

[Sarah-Betty]

I called someone several times but her phone was off. After one hour her phone was on and we started texting and after one minutes I say:



Hey, where have you been? I have called you several times. You have been unavailable for 4 hours.

He, where have you been? I had called you several times. You had been unavailable for 4 hours.

Which of the sentences is correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

I called someone several times but her phone was off. After one hour her phone was on and we started texting and after one [STRIKE]minutes[/STRIKE] minute, I [STRIKE]say[/STRIKE] said:

1. Hey, where have you been? I have called you several times. You have been unavailable for 4 hours.
2. Hey, where have you been? I [STRIKE]had[/STRIKE] called you several times. You [STRIKE]had been[/STRIKE] were unavailable for 4 hours.

Which of the sentences is correct?

See above. With my corrections, they're both correct. The use of the past perfect in 2 was wrong.

 

[emsr2d2]

Also, note that your sentences are rather formal if you're talking to a friend. Native speakers are more likely to say something like "Hey, where have you been for the last four hours? I couldn't get hold of you!"

 

[Sarah-Betty]

Thank you so much Emsr2d2.
May I ask after the correction implied, what is a difference between them?

1. Hey, where have you been? I have called you several times. You have been unavailable for 4 hours.
2. Hey, where have you been? I called you several times. You were unavailable for 4 hours.

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you so much, Emsr2d2.
May I ask, after the corrections, [STRIKE]implied,[/STRIKE] what is [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] the difference between them?

1. Hey, where have you been? I have called you several times. You have been unavailable for 4 hours.
2. Hey, where have you been? I called you several times. You were unavailable for 4 hours.

There is no difference in meaning.

 

[jutfrank]

May I ask after the correction implied, what is a difference between them?

The difference is in use. The first uses the present tense and the second use the past tense. The choice would depend on whether the speaker thinks she is talking about the past. To show this more clearly, I would change the beginning of sentence 2. to Hey, where were you?

we started texting and after one minutes I say:

Why say this after one minute? It is possible that this delay could cause the speaker to see the events as in the past, thus making the past tense forms more appropriate.

 

[Sarah-Betty]

Why say this after one minute? It is possible that this delay could cause the speaker to see the events as in the past, thus making the past tense forms more appropriate.

Exactly! That is what I meant.

 

[emsr2d2]

But after just one minute, it doesn't make sense. If you were talking to the person a week later, you might say "Do you remember that day I was trying to get hold of you urgently? I had been calling you for four hours when you finally picked up."