Present Perfect for Experience
Practise "Have you ever...?" and life experience with 20 free present perfect questions. Covers ever, never, been vs gone. Instant answers and explanations. A2-B1.
How this works
This is the first thing the present perfect is used for, and the easiest to get right once you see what it is doing.
When you talk about a life experience, you are reporting what has happened at some point in the period running up to now. The period is your whole life, and it is still open, so the time is never stated. "I have been to Japan." When? It does not matter, and saying would change the tense.
The question form puts have or has in front of the subject, with "ever" for emphasis: "Have you ever visited another country?" "Has she ever tried Japanese food?" The word "ever" means "at any time up to now", and it is what signals that this is an experience question rather than a question about one occasion.
The negative is "never", which is already negative all by itself. "I have never seen snow." Adding "not" - "I have not never seen snow" - is wrong, the way it would be in most languages.
Counting experiences works too, and still takes the present perfect: "I have been to Delhi three times", "we have seen that film twice". The number counts occasions up to now; it does not name a time, so nothing changes.
The one genuinely tricky pair is been and gone. "She has been to Delhi" means she went and has come back - it is an experience she now has. "She has gone to Delhi" means she is there now, or on her way. For experience questions you always want been: "Have you ever been to...?"
Why this trips up Indian English speakers
The experience question is where the past simple most often replaces the present perfect in Indian English.
"Did you ever go to Goa?", "Did you ever try Korean food?", "Did you ever work in a startup?" - all three are immediately clear, and all three would be asked with the present perfect by a British or American speaker: "Have you ever been to Goa?", "Have you ever tried Korean food?", "Have you ever worked in a startup?"
The cause is structural. Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and most Indian languages use a single past form where English splits the work between two tenses, so there is nothing in the first language pushing you towards the present perfect, and the past simple version never causes confusion.
It matters in two specific places. Interview questions about your experience are almost always asked in the present perfect - "Have you worked with this framework before?" - and answering in a different tense from the question is noticeable. And every English proficiency test from Cambridge to IELTS tests this contrast directly, because it is one of the clearest lines between B1 and B2.
The habit to build is small: when you are asking whether something has happened at any point in someone’s life, start with "Have you ever", not "Did you ever".
20 questions
All 20 questions are below, with the rule explained above. Turn on JavaScript to work through them one at a time and check each answer as you go.
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_____ you ever _____ (visit) another country?
Auxiliary first, then the past participle.
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I _____ (be) to Paris twice in my life.
Counting experiences, not naming a time.
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_____ she ever _____ (try) Japanese food?
Third person singular.
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We _____ (live) in three different cities so far.
"So far" keeps the time open.
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I _____ (never see) snow in my life.
"Never" goes between the two parts.
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Fix this sentence: Did you ever been to Kerala?
_____
The question is about a life experience.
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He _____ (work) with this team before, so he knows the process.
"Before" with no specific time.
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Which question is correct?
Check both the auxiliary and the verb form.
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She _____ (go) to the bank, so she is not at her desk.
Is she back yet?
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They _____ (eat) at that restaurant many times.
The participle of "eat" is irregular.
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Fix this sentence: I have never not tried skydiving.
_____
One negative is enough.
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_____ you _____ (read) any of her books?
The participle looks the same as the base form.
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My brother _____ (never fly) in a plane before.
Third person, and an irregular participle.
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Arrange the words into a correct question.
_____
Auxiliary, subject, ever, participle.
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I _____ (not meet) the new manager yet.
"Yet" keeps the time open.
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She _____ (win) three awards during her career.
Her career is still going.
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Which sentence means she is still in Mumbai right now?
Been means there and back.
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We _____ (know) each other since college.
A state that started in the past and is still true.
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Fix this sentence: Has you ever presented to a large audience?
_____
Check which auxiliary goes with "you".
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I _____ (be) to that office once, but I _____ (not meet) the team.
The second half refers to that one visit.
Now say it out loud
Getting it right in a gap is not the same as getting it right while you are talking. That is the gap this whole site exists to close, and it takes sixty seconds.
Ask three "Have you ever...?" questions about travel, food and work, then answer one of them yourself with a full sentence.
Common questions
What does "ever" mean in these questions?
It means "at any time up to now". It is not required - "Have you been to Japan?" is perfectly correct - but it emphasises that you are asking about the whole of someone’s life rather than a particular occasion. It always goes between the subject and the past participle: "Have you ever been...?"
What is the difference between "been" and "gone"?
"She has been to Delhi" means she went and has come back; it is an experience she has. "She has gone to Delhi" means she is there now or on her way. Experience questions always take "been": "Have you ever been to...?"
Can I say "I have never not done it"?
No. "Never" is already negative, so adding another negative is wrong: say "I have never done it". This is different from many Indian languages, where a double negative is grammatical, so it is worth watching in speech.