When do we use “had had” and “have had”? [duplicate] 15 There's no special magic with " had had ", they don't really go together as a pair anymore than " had wanted " go together So don't worry so much about how to use " had had " as a unit of grammar, they will come together naturally when you want to express the verb ' to have ' in the past perfect
What is the difference between have had and had? It is used to describe experiences one has had in the past (and that hence influence the experience with which you speak today), changes over time, uncompleted actions, and things that have happened more than once