Grammar ~20 min of the core left

Ask about experience

After this lesson you can

I can ask whether someone has ever done something and answer about my own experience.

Start the lesson Core 18–20 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

4 min

The perfect names experience — something that has happened at least once in your life, without saying when.

Have you ever been to London? a question: at any time in your life?
Yes, I have. I've been there twice. yes, two times
I've never eaten sushi. not once in my life
She has never been to Italy. not once in her life

ever goes between the subject and the third form and lives almost only in questions. never is a negative on its own; you do not put a second not next to it.

been and gone are two different messages:

He has been to Italy. he went there and came back
He has gone to Italy. he left and he is there now

For a trip, the preposition after been is to: I've been to London. I've been in London usually means "I am in London and have been here for some time" — a different message.

How many times: once, twice, three times, a few times.

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Common learner errors

written for your language
1

in instead of to

✗ Have you been in London? (about a trip) → ✓ Have you been to London? German (in London gewesen), Spanish (estado en Londres) and Portuguese (estado em Londres) say "been in". For a visit, English says been to.

2

A double negative

✗ I haven't never been

✓ I have never been

French (je n'ai jamais) and Italian (non sono mai) need two negative words; Spanish often uses two. In English never is enough, as in A1 #11.

3

The past for experience

✗ Did you ever be in London?

✓ Have you ever been to London?

Brazilian Portuguese (Você já esteve em Londres?) and Latin American Spanish ask about experience with a simple past. Here it is the perfect.

4

already instead of ever

✗ Have you already eaten sushi? (meaning "in your life") → ✓ Have you ever eaten sushi? French déjà, Portuguese já and German schon mean both "already" and "ever". already asks whether something planned is done.

Pronunciation

3 min

The question Have you ever…? is said as one piece with the stress on ever: /həvju ˈevə/. been before to is weak too, /bɪn/: Have you ever been to London? — /həvju ˈevə bɪn tə ˈlʌndən/.

The intonation goes up, as in any yes/no question (A1 #21). In the answer Yes, I have the voice goes down, and have is stressed.

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Text

3 min

Have you ever been to London?

Yes, I have. I've been there twice — the last time in 2019.

Have you ever eaten sushi?

No, I haven't. I've never eaten fish at all.

Where is Tom? — He's gone to the shop. He isn't here now.

Reading aloud

Exercises

8–10 min

1. Gap fill.

  1. Have you been to Italy?
  2. I've eaten sushi
  3. He has to Spain — he's there now
  4. She has to Spain twice
Show the answers
ever, never, gone, been.

2. Error correction.

  1. Have you been in London? (about a trip)
  2. I haven't never been there.
  3. Did you ever be in Italy?
Show the answers
Have you been to London?; I have never been there. / I haven't ever been there.; Have you ever been to Italy? / Have you been to Italy?

3. Transformation. Ask about experience:

  1. eat sushi
  2. go to London
  3. see this film
Show the answers
Have you ever eaten sushi? Have you ever been to London? Have you ever seen this film?

4. Matching.

  1. He has been to Italy.
  2. He has gone to Italy.
Show the answers
`He has been to Italy.` — he went there and came back; `He has gone to Italy.` — he is there now.
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Summary

Covered

  • ever and never in the perfect
  • been against gone
  • the preposition to
  • counting times

Next — lesson 5: how long.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 41

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

12 words
  • ever /ˈevə/ at any time (in a question)
  • twice /twaɪs/ two times
  • once /wʌns/ one time
  • times /taɪmz/ used for counting how often (three times)
  • abroad /əˈbrɔːd/ in or to another country
  • sushi /ˈsuːʃi/ a Japanese dish of rice with raw fish
  • try /traɪ/ to do or taste something to see what it is like
  • tried /traɪd/ past of try
  • experience /ɪkˈspɪəriəns/ what has happened to you; what you know from doing things
  • last time /lɑːst ˈtaɪm/ the time before this one
  • back /bæk/ to the place where you were before (come back)
  • interesting /ˈɪntrəstɪŋ/ making you want to know more

Writing

Four sentences about your experience: where you have been, what you have never done, how many times.

Example

I've been to Italy twice. I've never been to London. I've never eaten sushi. My sister has gone to Spain — she's there now.

Checklist

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Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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