we'd

Here the d is the modal, so a bare verb follows: we'd help, we'd reach, we'd go. It carries the conditional, as in an offer that we'd happily help if asked. It also carries the future seen from the past, as in a promise that we'd reach the coast by nightfall. When a past participle follows instead, the "had" contraction is at work.

One spelling hides two words, and the next verb tells you which. When the d stands for had, a past participle follows: we'd seen, we'd said, we'd never been. Put a base form after it instead (we'd see) and you are reading the "would" contraction. A quick check is to expand it to we had and see whether the sentence still makes sense.