To ask whether someone has ever done something, German uses schon mal, and the participle still goes to the end: Warst du schon mal in Wien? The answer for never is noch nie, and these small words sit in the middle of the sentence, never at the end.
Examples
- Warst du schon mal in Wien?
- Have you ever been to Vienna?
- Ich habe noch nie Sauerkraut probiert.
- I have never tried sauerkraut.
- Wir haben das Museum schon mal besucht.
- We have visited the museum before.
The mistake to avoid
Noch nie is the answer to schon mal - not nicht schon mal.
Where this fits in
Talking about the past, German A2: Tell stories about yesterday, last weekend, and life experiences using the Perfekt tense.