ことがある
“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” – Andre Gide
ことがある is a bit cryptic, in a way. Technically it means “time when action happens/happened” though that’s kind of a long definition.
If you remember back to the lesson on ある and いる, you’ll remember the ある from this chapter. This ある meant “to have” or “to exist.” This is the same thing, though our translation in English has to be a little different to accommodate the meaning.
こと (the action)
がある (to have)
So, it’s like you’re saying “to have the action.” This works out to “time when the action happens/happened.” It’s really the same thing in Japanese, but in English we separate these meanings out, which makes it confusing. Here, we should look at some examples. That’ll make the confusion all better.
a すし を たべた こと が ある。
I’ve had the action of eating sushi / I’ve eaten sushi (before).
a すし を たべる こと が ある。
There are times when sushi is eaten.
a 日本 へ 行った こと が ない。
I haven’t been to Japan before.
a 日本 へ 行く こと が ない。
There are no times when we go to Japan.
See the difference between past tense and present tense in the action? One of them is “I have done the action (before)” the other is “there are times when the action happens.” If you try to think of it in terms of what the sentences mean rather than the weird translation-issues that happen when you try to go from Japanese to English, it’s not too complicated. Here, you try. Tell me if you’ve done these things:
a 日本 へ 行った こと が ある？
Have you been to Japan before?
a すし を たべた こと が ある？
Have you eaten sushi before?
a 「七人 の さむらい」という えいが を 見た こと が ある？
Have you seen the movie “7 Samurai” before?
If you said the ことがない answer for the last one, you should pick that movie up. It’s quite good.
We’re going to practice these here pretty soon, but now I want you to take a quick break and come back to すき and きらい. Let’s look at the interchangeability of nominalizer の and こと.