Lesson 75
Ta Form + koto ga aru
To talk about things you or others have experienced, use koto ga aru after a ta form verb. First, let's look at a couple of sample conversations where the plain, most common form is used:
A: Nihonshoku o tabeta koto ga aru? (Have you ever eaten Japanese food?)
B: Hai, sushi to sukiyaki o tabeta koto ga aru. (Yes, I've eaten sushi and sukiyaki.)
A: Tako wa tabeta koto ga aru? (Have you ever eaten octopus?)
B: Iie, tabeta koto ga nai ga, tabete mitai. (No, I haven't, but I'd like to try it.)
And here is one using polite arimasu:
A: Okinawa ni itta koto ga arimasu ka. (Have you ever been to Okinawa?)
B: Hai, arimasu. Nikai ikimashita. (Yes, I have. I've been twice.)
There are two things about this conversation that I would especially like to point out. The first is that when you ask "have you been to (a place)" in Japanese, you use the past tense of the verb iku (to go) and literally ask "have you gone to...," which, to me, makes more sense than our English use of the past participle been. The second is that in using this form, you're admitting having experienced something at least once. If you want to mention how many times you've done that something, you do not use this form, but regular past tense. As in B's reply above, in Japanese you don't say "I've been twice," but "I went twice."
Another point to remember about this conjugation is that the ga is often omitted:
A: Kono hon yonda koto aru? (Have you read this book?)
B: Iie, mada yonde inai. (No, not yet. [No, I haven't read it yet.])
(The mada + Te Form + inai conjugation for "not yet" was mentioned at the end of Lesson 59.)
Word Check
nihonshoku: Japanese food (This is a simple compound: nihon [Japan] + shoku [food])
tako: octopus
-te mitai: want to try (Base 2 + tai form of the Te Form + miru. See Lessons 8 and 65.)
nikai: twice (This is a compound of ni [two] + kai [times])
mada: (not) yet
(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)
|
