tenses with "until recently"

Question

Which one is correct? If all are correct, do they mean different things?

We haven't eaten at home until recently.

We didn't eat at home until recently.

We hadn't eaten at home until recently.

Hi everyone, I think 'past perfect tense' and 'simple past tense' both are natural because it implies that I have now eaten at home But I am not sure. Is present perfect also correct? And when should I use present perfect with until recently?

I don't understand how to use "until recently". I would be grateful if you could help me understand the rule of using "until recently".

Answer 1

"Until recently" is an unspecified point in past, not long before now. But from the perspective of writing, it can be also considered the present time (Grammar Exchange). So, you can use present perfect and various forms of past tense to describe "not eating at home" from slightly different aspects.

1. We haven't eaten at home until recently.

This is in present perfect and means we haven't have a habit to eat at home until "now."

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2. We didn't eat at home until recently.

This is in past simple and means we didn't eat at home one single time until recently.

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3. We hadn't eaten at home until recently.

This is in past perfect and means we had never eaten at home until recently. It basically means same as in the past tense.

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You could also say:

4. We were not eating at home until recently

This is in past progressive and shows an ongoing action of not eating at home during a period of time until recently.

Answer 2

@Andrew answered in a comment:

"Recently" means "a short time ago". "Until recently" means "up to a short time ago". I'm sure these both easily translate. It seems more like your question is asking about the differences between the present perfect, simple past, and past perfect tenses.