Japanese with Manga

Experience with sleepovers with 〜た＋ことがある

Grammar Explanation: Previous experience with 〜た＋ことがある

Manga panel from ご注文はうさぎですか？ showing example of Experience with sleepovers with 〜た＋ことがある.
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Cocoa thinks Rize is nervous about staying overnight with her and Chino.

リゼ:
「いや…　親父(おやじ)の部下(ぶか)に誘(さそ)われたワイルドなキャンプしか経験(けいけん)した事(こと)ないから…」
“Well... I've only had the experience of those wild camping trips my dad's subordinates invited me on...”
Literal: “Well... because I have no thing experienced except wild camps my dad's subordinates invited me to...”
「こんなの初(はじ)めてで…」
“I've never done anything like this before...”
ココア:
「ワイルド？」
“Wild?”

Key Points

1〜た事(こと)がある = have had the experience of…
  • The highlighted pattern expresses past experience at least once.
  • Here Rize is saying the only kind of overnight experience she has had is camping.
2Casual negative: した事(こと)ない
  • The full form is した事(こと)がない, with が omitted in casual speech.
  • So しか した事(こと)ない means “I’ve done nothing except that”.
3しか〜ない = nothing but
  • 「キャンプしか…した事(こと)ない」 means camping is the only kind of stay-over experience she knows.
  • That is why she sounds uncertain about an ordinary sleepover.
4The long noun phrase modifies the camping trips
  • 「親父(おやじ)の部下(ぶか)に 誘(さそ)われた ワイルドなキャンプ」 means “wild camping trips I was invited on by my dad’s subordinates”.
  • That whole chunk is what 経験(けいけん)した and した事(こと)がある refer to.
5こんなの初(はじ)めてで trails off after giving background
  • The connecting で leaves the result unstated: an ordinary sleepover is new to Rize, so she feels unsure.

Vocabulary

(Old man)

親父(おやじ) means dad, old man, or pops in rough, familiar speech. It can also refer to an older man or male shopkeeper.

(Experience)

経験(けいけん) means experience, either an event one has lived through or knowledge gained from it.

See Also

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