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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。

wǒ qù guo Zhōngguó.

I've been to China (at some point).

你吃过火锅吗?

nǐ chī guo huǒguō ma?

Have you ever had hotpot?

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。

wǒ méi chī guo Běijīng kǎoyā.

I've never had Peking duck.

我从来没见过他。

wǒ cónglái méi jiàn guo tā.

I have never met him.

Look up the word: 过 · All grammar guides

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