When did you last...?


I am searching for a way to ask a question like "When did you last see her?"
or "When did you last do the laundry?, or also "When did we last meet?"
Basically, how do you construct a question with this content:

> "When was the most recent time when X happened?"

And even less specific: How to talk about the most recent point in time in
general.

> "Last time you ate lunch, did you eat a salad?"  
>  "When was your last holiday?"  
>  "Who was your last boyfriend?"




I don't think _"last"_ can be translated literally in most situations, or at
least shouldn't. _"Last"_ will be very much understood from context in most
cases. I'd come up with:

"When did we last meet?"

> この前会ったのはいつ？ _Kono mae atta no wa itsu?_

"When did you last see her?"

> 彼女を見たのはいつだった？ _Kanojo o mita no wa itsu datta?_

"When did you last do the laundry?"

> 洗濯したのはいつだった？ _Sentakushita no wa itsu datta?_  
>  いつ洗濯したんですか？ _Itsu sentakushitan desu ka?_

この前 is a common way to say _"last time"_ , but it's usually only used if you
find yourself in exactly the same situation as before and want to refer to the
_last time this happened_. You can't usually apply it if you're asking another
person when he last did something if you had no part in that "last time".

Usually the best way is to simply phrase the question in past tense, which
very much implies that you're asking for the _last time_ something happened.
If you want to very explicitly say _"most recently"_ , 一番最近 _ichiban saikin_
should do.




"When did you last see her?"  
最後に彼女を見たのはいつ(ですか)?

"When did you last do the laundry?"  
最後に洗濯をしたのはいつ(ですか)?

"When did we last meet?"  
最後に会ったのはいつ(ですか)?

I think you can easily use 最後に to say "last" in this context.

