When to use it
Use it when a friend suggests sushi or a Japanese restaurant and you have never tried it.
The sentence in English (“I've never eaten Japanese food.”)
"I've never eaten Japanese food" is a present perfect: "have" plus "eaten". "Never" goes between them, and "Japanese" always has a capital letter.
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- 've
- auxiliary verbhave · tense: present · person: first · number: singular · short form of "have"; with "eaten" it talks about life experience up to now
- never
- adverbadverb of frequency
- eaten
- verbeat · form: past participle · irregular verb: eat, ate, eaten
- Japanese
- adjectiveadjective of nationality, always capitalised in English
- food
- nounnoun
The sentence in German (“Ich habe noch nie japanisches Essen gegessen.”)
"Ich habe noch nie japanisches Essen gegessen" is in the Perfekt: "habe" in second place and the participle "gegessen" at the end. "Noch nie" means "never yet". The adjective "japanisches" has a small letter and an ending that matches the neuter noun "Essen".
- Ich
- pronoun"I"
- habe
- auxiliary verbhaben · tense: present · mood: indicative · person: first · number: singular · auxiliary of the Perfekt, like "have" in "have eaten"
- noch
- adverb"yet", "still"; with "nie": "never before"
- nie
- adverb"never"
- japanisches
- adjective"Japanese", neuter ending -es to match "Essen"; with a small letter in German
- Essen
- nounneuter noun: "food" (also "meal")
- gegessen
- verbessen · form: past participle · "eaten"; the participle goes to the end
What changes from one language to the other (English × German)
Both languages use "have" plus a participle here, but German splits them and puts the participle at the end. German adjectives of nationality have a small letter and change their ending; English adjectives never change.
Example conversation
— Gehen wir heute japanisch essen?
— Shall we eat Japanese today?
— Gern! Ich habe noch nie japanisches Essen gegessen.
— Sure! I've never eaten Japanese food.