ことがある Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Phrase
Essential Meaning: There are times when / There was a time when
Construction:
- “There was a time when” (i.e. past tense)
- Sentence informal past + ことがある
- E.g. 食べたことがある [There was a time when X ate]
- E.g. 話したことがある [There was a time when X spoke]
- E.g. 高かったことがある [There was a time when X was expensive]
- E.g. 静かだったことがある [There was a time when X was quiet]
- E.g. 先生だったことがある [There was a time when X was a teacher]
- Sentence informal past + ことがある
- “There are times when” (i.e. nonpast tense)
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal nonpast + ことがある
- E.g. 食べることがある [There are times when X eats]
- E.g. 話すことがある [There are times when X speaks]
- E.g. 高いことがある [There are times when X is expensive]
- な-Adjective Stem + なことがある
- E.g. 静かなことがある [There are times when X is quiet]
- Noun + [の / である] + ことがある
- E.g. 先生のことがる [There are times when X is a teacher]
- E.g. 先生であることがある [There are times when X is a teacher]
- (Verb / い-Adjective) informal nonpast + ことがある
Notes:
- ことがある is a very common phrase that means “There are times when” or “There was a time when“, depending on whether the preceding predicate is in the past or nonpast tense. ことがある can also be used negatively as ことがない.
- With a past-tense sentence, ことがある indicates that there were one or more instances in the past when the state or action described by the sentence was the case. Past tense +ことがある is an extension of the possessive expression XはYがある, where the “possession” in question is a personal experience. For example, the sentence 私はアメリカに行ったことがある。[There was a time when I went to America.] indicates that there were one or more prior instances of the speaker going to America. In more natural terms, it means “I’ve been to America before.” or “I possess the personal experience of going to America.” Adverbial phrases (e.g. 五年前 [5 years ago]) may be used in conjunction with ことがある to specify when in the past the action took place, but the time must be in the relatively distant past. Keep in mind that the main verb takes the past tense form and ことがある always remains in the nonpast tense.
- E.g. 私は中学校で英語を教えたことがありいます。[I have taught English at junior high school before.]
- E.g. 私は五年前に日本へ行ったことがある。[There was a time five years ago when I went to Japan.]
- E.g. *私は昨日さしみを食べたことがある。[There was a time when I ate sashimi yesterday.] Yesterday is too close to the present for ことがある to make sense. It would make more sense to simply say 昨日さしみを食べた。[I ate sashimi yesterday.]
- With a nonpast tense sentence, ことがある indicates that the state or action described by the sentence is the case from time to time. It can express a personal experience or a more general occurrence. Adverbs of frequency (e.g. よく [Often] or たまに [Occasionally]) may be used to indicate how frequently the action or state in is the case.
- E.g. 私は朝風呂に入ることがある。[There are times when I take a bath in the morning.]
- E.g. この店のミルクはたまに古いことがある。[When it comes to this store’s milk, there are occasional instances when it is old.] This is an example of ことがある being used with a general rather than personal experience.
Example Sentences:
私はヨーロッパへ行ったことがある。[I’ve been to Europe before.]
レタスがとても高かったことがある。[There has been a time when lettuce was very expensive.]
大川さんはまだゴルフをしたことがない。[Ogawa-san hasn’t played golf yet.]
私は日本の小説をよく読んだことがある。[There have been many times when I have read Japanese novels.]
スーザンは一時ジャズがとても好きだったことがある。[There was a time when Susan really liked jazz.]
私はプロ野球選手だったことがあります。[There was a time when I was a pro baseball player.]
マークは朝ごはんを食べずに学校へ行くことがある。[There are times when Mark goes to school without eating breakfast.]
アメリカで日本へのみやげを買うとそれが日本製であることがよくある。[There are times when you buy a souvenir in America to bring to Japan, and it turns out to that it is made in Japan.]
最近のいわゆる自然食品は本当の自然食品じゃないことがある。[Recently, there are instances when a so-called natural foods is not actually a natural food.]
WILD Examples:
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