Japanese grammar · Elementary (A2)
Experience: ～たことがある
Saying you have or have never done something with ～たことがある, how it differs from the simple past, and useful answers like 一度 and まだ.
Have you ever…?
To talk about experience, take the plain past (the た-form) and add (koto ga aru), literally “there is the fact that I did”. Polite: (koto ga arimasu). (Fujisan ni nobotta koto ga arimasu), I have climbed Mount Fuji.
The negative is (koto ga nai), polite (koto ga arimasen): I have never done it. (wa) often replaces (ga) in the negative: (ichido mo itta koto wa arimasen).
| Meaning | Plain | Polite |
|---|---|---|
| have eaten | (tabeta koto ga aru) | (tabeta koto ga arimasu) |
| have never eaten | (tabeta koto ga nai) | (tabeta koto ga arimasen) |
| have you ever eaten? | (tabeta koto aru?) | (tabeta koto ga arimasu ka) |
- 納豆を食べたことがありますか。Nattō o tabeta koto ga arimasu ka.Have you ever eaten natto?
- はい、一度あります。Hai, ichido arimasu.Yes, once.
- 海外に住んだことはありません。Kaigai ni sunda koto wa arimasen.I've never lived abroad.
Experience or simple past?
～たことがある is about your life experience, not about a particular moment. So it doesn't go with a specific recent time: to say what you did yesterday or last week, use the simple past. (senshū Kyōto ni ikimashita), I went to Kyoto last week. (Kyōto ni itta koto ga arimasu), I've been to Kyoto (at some point in my life).
It is also not used for things everyone does all the time: “I have eaten rice” with sounds strange. It fits things that are a little special: travelling somewhere, trying a food, doing a job, meeting someone famous.
- 昨日、初めてお寿司を作りました。Kinō, hajimete osushi o tsukurimashita.Yesterday I made sushi for the first time.
- 子供の時、アメリカに行ったことがあります。Kodomo no toki, Amerika ni itta koto ga arimasu.I went to America once as a child.
How often: once, many times, never, not yet
These words go well with ～たことがある. (ichido mo) and (zenzen) need a negative. (mada), not yet, suggests you would like to do it one day: (mada itta koto ga arimasen), I haven't been there yet.
| Japanese | Meaning |
|---|---|
| (ichido) | once |
| (ni, sankai) | two or three times |
| (nando mo) | many times |
| (ichido mo) + negative | never, not even once |
| (mada) + negative | not yet |
- 温泉には何度も行ったことがあります。Onsen ni wa nando mo itta koto ga arimasu.I've been to hot springs many times.
- 飛行機に一度も乗ったことがない。Hikōki ni ichido mo notta koto ga nai.I've never been on a plane.
In an interview (B1)
In job interviews and other formal situations, experience is often asked about in keigo: ～をなさったことはありますか (… o nasatta koto wa arimasu ka), have you ever done …? When you answer about yourself, use ordinary verbs with (arimasu), or (gozaimasu) in very formal speech.
Don't confuse it with the dictionary form + , which means “sometimes”: (densha ga okureru koto ga arimasu), the trains are sometimes late.
- 接客のお仕事をなさったことはありますか。Sekkyaku no oshigoto o nasatta koto wa arimasu ka.Have you ever worked with customers?
- はい、ホテルのフロントで働いたことがあります。Hai, hoteru no furonto de hataraita koto ga arimasu.Yes, I have worked at a hotel front desk.