Experiential Aspect 过: Have Done Before

Chinese grammar · HSK 2 · 动态助词过 · By Carson 木林森

Pattern: Verb + 过 (+ Object) — states that something has happened at some point in the past; a life experience, not a specific single event.

经历态 jīng lì tài

我去过北京。= I have been to Beijing (before).

Negation: 没(有) + Verb + 过 — 过 stays attached (never drop it like you would 了).
- 我没有去过上海。= I have never been to Shanghai. (never 不去过)

Question: Verb + 过 + Object + 吗？ or ...+ 没有？
- 你吃过中国菜吗？= Have you ever eaten Chinese food?

Contrast 过 vs 了: 过 = general experience, doesn't matter when. 了 = one specific completed instance. 我以前没吃过苹果，昨天我吃了一个。 (Never eaten apple before — yesterday I ate one.)

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
我去过北京。	Wǒ qù guò Běi jīng.	I have been to Beijing before.	Minimal experiential pattern: Verb (去) + 过 + Object (北京) — a past experience, not a single specific event.
我没有去过上海。	Wǒ méi yǒu qù guò Shàng hǎi.	I have never been to Shanghai.	Negation uses 没(有) + Verb + 过 — 过 stays attached, unlike 了, which disappears under 没有 negation.
你吃过中国菜吗？	Nǐ chī guò Zhōng guó cài ma?	Have you ever eaten Chinese food?	Question form adds 吗 at the end: Verb + 过 + Object + 吗？— asks about experience, not one instance.
我打过篮球，也踢过足球。	Wǒ dǎ guò lán qiú, yě tī guò zú qiú.	I've played basketball before, and I've also played soccer before.	过 can attach to several different verbs in one sentence, each independently marking an experience.
我以前没吃过苹果，昨天我吃了一个。	Wǒ yǐ qián méi chī guò píng guǒ, zuó tiān wǒ chī le yí gè.	I had never eaten an apple before — yesterday I ate one.	Contrast: 过 (in 没吃过) marks a general lifetime experience; 了 (吃了) marks the one specific completed instance (yesterday's apple).

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Experiential Aspect 过 across 14 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What you need first

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The same pattern at other levels

过 — HSK 4

Experiential Aspect 过 is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

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