When to use it
Use it when a friend suggests sushi and you have never tried Japanese food.
The sentence in English: “I've never eaten Japanese food.”
"I've never eaten Japanese food" is a present perfect: "have" + "eaten", with "never" between them.
- 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 Indonesian: “Saya belum pernah makan makanan Jepang.”
"Saya belum pernah makan makanan Jepang" shows experience with "pernah" and "belum" (not yet); the verb "makan" does not change at all.
- Saya
- pronoun"I"
- belum
- adverb"not yet"
- pernah
- adverb"ever"; "belum pernah" = "have never"
- makan
- verbmakan · form: root · "eat"; no change for tense
- makanan
- nounmakan + -an: "food"
- Jepang
- proper noun"Japan"; after the noun it means Japanese
What changes from one language to the other: English × Indonesian
English marks experience with a tense (have eaten); Indonesian uses the words "belum pernah". English uses the adjective "Japanese"; Indonesian puts the country name "Jepang" after the noun.
Example conversation
— Mau makan di restoran Jepang?
— Do you want to eat at a Japanese restaurant?
— Mau! Saya belum pernah makan makanan Jepang.
— Sure! I've never eaten Japanese food.