Asking "have you tried X" or "have you ever Y"?


This has always been a problem for me, so I'm hoping you guys can answer it
once and for all. Often, I want to ask somebody if they've ever done something
before. For example, in an email yesterday I was talking about a trip to
Yorkshire and wanted to ask my friend

> "have you ever eaten Yorkshire Pudding?"

(when he was living in the UK a few years ago.)

I can find a couple of ways to express this.

> ヨークシャープディング食べたことある？ / を食べた ことが ありますか？
>
> ヨークシャープディングを食べましたか？

These both feel, more so the last one, like I am asking "recent" rather than
"ever". I've always associated "Ｘを食べましたか？" with recent activity, I guess from
my early lessons e.g. "昨日レストランに行きました" "そうですか？何を食べましたか"

Are these sufficient to ask "have you ever eaten Yorkshire Pudding?" ?

In English I would say "Have you ever eaten Yorkshire Pudding?" or "Have you
eaten Yorkshire Pudding before?" rather than "Have you eaten Yorkshire
Pudding?"

Perhaps my English is wrong lol




The format:

> ◯◯を食べた ことが ありますか

translates to:

> Have you ever eaten ◯◯?"

You could also ask if they sometimes eat yorkshire pudding in a similar
fashion:

> ◯◯を食べる ことが ありますか

This translates roughly to:

> Do you eat ◯◯?

* * *

The second question you mentioned:

> ヨークシャープディングを食べましたか？

Is asking in the context of some time frame in the past. It **could be**
recent, or it could be in the past as well.

For example, if your friend is talking about a time they went to some
restaurant in the past maybe you could ask if they ate yorkshire pudding at
that time by using the above.

However, if you have no context to ask about, it would probably just apply to
recent time, like that day or something.




The format:

> ◯◯を食べた ことが ありますか

translates to:

> Have you ever eaten ◯◯?"

You could also ask if they sometimes eat yorkshire pudding in a similar
fashion:

> ◯◯を食べる ことが ありますか

This translates roughly to:

> Do you eat ◯◯?

* * *

The second question you mentioned:

> ヨークシャープディングを食べましたか？

Is asking in the context of some time frame in the past. It **could be**
recent, or it could be in the past as well.

For example, if your friend is talking about a time they went to some
restaurant in the past maybe you could ask if they ate yorkshire pudding at
that time by using the above.

However, if you have no context to ask about, it would probably just apply to
recent time, like that day or something.

