过 (guo): have you ever…
The experience marker — done at least once, ever — and how it differs from 了's completion.
Experience, not completion
过 after a verb says the action has been experienced at least once, at some indefinite point — the "have you ever" of Chinese. Where 了 reports a specific completed event, 过 reports a life fact: 我去了中国 is a trip; 我去过中国 is a biography line.
我去过中国。
你吃过火锅吗?
Negating an experience
没(有) …过 — and unlike 了, 过 STAYS in the negative, because the experience itself is what's being denied. 从来 sharpens it to "never in my life".
我没吃过北京烤鸭。
我从来没见过他。
Look up the word: 过 · All grammar guides
Patterns stick when you meet them in sentences you can read. The app drills each one at i+1, scheduled by FSRS.
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