we were wondering where you guys went

[EngLearner]

Source: "Super Storm", a movie (timestamp: 38m16s).

Girl #1 and guy #1 go in one direction, and girl #2 and guy #2 go in another. Then girl #2 and guy #2 start looking for girl #1 and guy #1. When they finally find them, they say to them: "Hey, we were wondering where you guys went."

I wonder if you like the original, and if these versions would be natural in the context given:

1. Hey, we'd been wondering where you guys had gone.
2. Hey, we were wondering where you guys had gone.

I would've used version #1 in this context because girl #2 and guy #2 were wondering before they found girl #1 and guy #1 (now that they've found them, they're no longer wondering), and I would've used the past perfect "had gone" because girl #1 and guy #1 went somewhere before girl #2 and guy #2 started wondering.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, we like the original. It was, after all, written by a native speaker.

You don't need to change things that have been written by proficient native speakers. Just look at how the phrase has been used and learn from it.

 

[EngLearner]

The use of the simple form "were wondering" in the original caught my attention because I'd mostly come across the perfect form "had been wondering" in similar contexts. I just searched the forum and found this example written by a native speaker:

It's good to see you back. I had been wondering what had happened to you.

The circumstances are kind of similar: the person was wondering what had happened to the other person before they jast saw them. I may be missing something, so If I'm not right, please tell me how the situation is different.

Does version #1 work in the scenario in post #1, or would it be unnatural?

 

[jutfrank]

I may be missing something, so If I'm not right, please tell me how the situation is different.

Yes, you're missing something quite important, which is that the relevant phrase is most typically used with the past continuous.

Hey, I was wondering where you were. Are you okay?

This phrase, and close variants of it such as in your original example, is typically uttered when somebody turns up after a delayed time apart from the speaker. It's typically said with a sense of at least slight relief for having the person back.

 

[EngLearner]

It's good to see you back. I had been wondering what had happened to you.

How is this example different from the one in post #1, and why were the perfect forms used there instead of the simple ones ("was wondering" and "happened")?

 

[jutfrank]

I'll guess that RonBee/Tarheel used perfect tenses there because of the delay between his post and the original post by eric2004.