Rephrase

[allthewayanime]

I would like to know if the following sentence ' We went to Budapest 2 days ago' can be rephrased as 'We had been in Budapest for 2 days' or should it be 'We have been in Budapest for 2 days'?

 

[5jj]

You can say 'We have been in Budapest for two days' only if you are still there. In that case, you would say, 'We came to Budapest two days ago'.

 

[azkad]

NOT A TEACHER

In my opinion, the sentence cannot be paraphrased in that way:
1) We went to Budapest 2 days ago. (It means how many days ago someone was somewhere; a person might have stayed in Budapest more than a month or longer)
2) We had been in Budapest for 2 days, before we got our return tickets. (exactly two days before something happened)
3) We have been in Budapest for 2 days. (It means that someone has been somewhere until now, but we do not know exactly when)

My version is as follows:
We were in Budapest two days ago.
or
We travelled to Budapest two days ago.

 

[Raymott]

NOT A TEACHER

In my opinion, the sentence cannot be paraphrased in that way:
1) We went to Budapest 2 days ago. (It means how many days ago someone [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] went somewhere; a person might have stayed in Budapest more than a month or longer). They can't have stayed in Budapest for a month if they only went there 2 days ago.
2) We had been in Budapest for 2 days, before we got our return tickets. (exactly two days before something happened)
3) We have been in Budapest for 2 days. (It means that someone has been somewhere until now, but we do not know exactly when) Yes we do know when - 2 days ago. We also know who it was (We) and where they were (Budapest)

My version is as follows:
We were in Budapest two days ago.
or
We travelled to Budapest two days ago.

This is a bit confusing. Maybe I've misunderstood some of your points.