Talking about experiences in Japanese

Level A2

Talking about experiences in Japanese

To ask “Have you ever…?”, put ことがある after the verb's plain past form, as in 行ったことがある; Japanese has no separate equivalent of English “have” in this construction. With friends or family, ask with ことがある？; in polite conversation with someone you do not know well, use ことがありますか？. For “have never,” keep the verb before こと in its past form and make the ending negative: ことがない in casual speech or ことがありません in polite speech. Japanese often leaves out “I” and “you” when the conversation makes the person clear.

Past verb + ことがある: saying you have had an experience

  • ことがあるever

Have you ever…? Casual and polite questions

動詞のた形ことがある？／動詞のた形ことがありますか？

Answering yes, never or a number of times

動詞のた形ことがある／ことがない。

Casual conversation: cooking for your family

Polite conversation: a trip to Japan

Moving from an experience to a particular story

A casual short answer can leave out the known activity: “うん、一回だけあるよ。” means “Yes, just once,” while polite answers use はい and an ending such as あります. 一回 and 二回 count occasions, while 一度も strengthens a negative to “not even once,” as in “ううん、一度も行ったことがないよ。” The polite negative “家族にご飯を作ったことはありません” uses は in place of が to mark the experience being denied.

When you move to one particular occasion, use ordinary past forms instead of repeating the experience construction: “去年行きました。” means “I went last year.” Start the account with まず or 最初は, meaning “first” or “at first,” and continue with それから, meaning “then.” Keep the story casual with forms such as 作った and うれしかった, or polite with forms such as 行きました and “とても楽しかったです。”, finishing with what happened and how you felt.

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