have done (something) before (experience)

Verb in the ta form plus koto ga arimasu expresses life experience: have you ever done it. The negative ta koto ga arimasen means have never done it. It describes whether the experience exists, not when it happened.

Examples

• 富士山ふじさんに登のぼったことがあります。

  Fujisan ni nobotta koto ga arimasu.

  I have climbed Mt. Fuji before.

• すしを食たべたことがありますか。

  Sushi o tabeta koto ga arimasu ka.

  Have you ever eaten sushi?

Vocabulary in these examples

• 登る to climb
• ある to exist (inanimate); to have
• 食べる to eat

Related patterns · Verb forms

• 〜ます polite non-past verb form
• 〜ません polite negative (do not / will not)
• 〜ました / 〜ませんでした polite past (did / did not)
• 〜ない plain negative verb form
• 〜た plain past verb form
• 辞書形 dictionary (plain non-past) form and its uses