I've just realized...

[Nightmare85]

Hey guys,
What would you choose?

I've just realized you are not my friend.
I've just realized you were not my friend.
I've just realized you had not been my friend.

In my opinion I should use sentence 3, even if I'm talking about now.

Look:
I realized you are not my friend.
I realized you were not my friend.
Sentence 1 breaks the sequence of tenses rule, so sentence 2 is correct.

P.S. I'm sure "have not been" is definitely wrong here.

Cheers!

 

[SoothingDave]

I'd use the first sentence. He is not your friend now.

 

[5jj]

I've just realized you are not my friend. - now
I've just realized you were not my friend. - at some time in the past
I've just realized you had not been my friend. (unlikely without more context)

I realized you are not my friend. - Possible. - I realised yesterday the still-true fact that you are not my friend.
I realized you were not my friend. Possible, either with the same meaning as the previous sentence, or - I realised at some time in the past that you were not, at that time, my friend.


"Have not been" is possible: I've just realised that you haven't been my friend for some time.

 

[Nightmare85]

Hello and thank you for your replies.
However, I'm not satisfied yet.

I'll try to give you some more examples.

A person is a teacher and you hear about that.

You can say:
I hear you are a teacher.
I heard you were a teacher.

Now some people might think the person is not a teacher anymore.
However, in that case I would have said:
I heard you used to be a teacher.

Sure some people would say, "I heard you are a teacher." in order to make the sentence's meaning 100% clear, but we know it's not "perfect" English.

Now let's modify the tense:
I've just heard you were a teacher. - I think it's not good!
I've just heard you'd been a teacher. - I think it's correct!

Even now we could use the same "bad grammar" as the above version.
I've just heard you've been a teacher.
It's 100% clear yet informal, isn't it?

I hope I explained myself better.
Please say your opinions, thanks!

Cheers!

 

[Allen165]

Hey guys,
What would you choose?

I've just realized you are not my friend.
I've just realized you were not my friend.
I've just realized you had not been my friend.

In my opinion I should use sentence 3, even if I'm talking about now.

Look:
I realized you are not my friend.
I realized you were not my friend.
Sentence 1 breaks the sequence of tenses rule, so sentence 2 is correct.

P.S. I'm sure "have not been" is definitely wrong here.

Cheers!

NOT A TEACHER.

You can also leave out "have" and say, "I just realized you're not my friend."