Ta Koto Ga Aru: Talk About Experience

Use a た-form verb with ことがある to say that an experience has occurred at least once before the reference time. A dated account of a particular trip usually needs the ordinary past instead. The distinction is between having the experience and reporting one event.

Formation and use

The verb before こと is always the affirmative た form in the basic experience pattern: 行ったことがあります. A question such as 行ったことがありますか asks whether the experience is in your history.

Put the negation on ある to say never: 食べたことがありません. 食べなかったことがあります instead means there have been occasions when you did not eat; it is not the same message.

Comparisons and common errors

Compare 去年、日本に行きました (a particular past visit) with 日本に行ったことがあります (experience). A past time can appear with an experience account, but do not use the pattern as a mechanical replacement for every past statement.

A follow-up such as いつ行きましたか asks about the actual event. 回 expressions can specify the number of experiences, as in 二回行ったことがあります.

Practise with explanations

Try the 10 questions below, or open the practice set. Check each answer or the whole set, read the explanation, and retry mistakes. First-attempt results are kept separately on this device.

Connected lessons

• Japanese Ta Form: Plain Past Conjugation
• Koto Ga Dekiru: Say What Is Possible
• Japanese Masu Form: Polite Present, Negative, and Past