Chưa từng + predicate says that an experience has occurred zero times up to a relevant reference point. Tôi chưa từng đi máy bay means “I have never flown” or, more literally, “Up to now, flying has never been part of my experience.” The construction combines chưa, which keeps an expected or conceivable event unrealized up to a boundary, with experiential từng, which ranges over occasions in the past.
That meaning is not built by conjugating the verb. Vietnamese verbs remain unchanged: time comes from the event itself, the conversation, temporal expressions, and viewpoint markers such as đã, đang, sẽ, rồi, từng, mới, vừa, chưa, sắp, and vẫn. Chưa từng is therefore not a Vietnamese “present perfect tense.” It is a negative experiential construction.
The form is neutral in both (informal) conversation and (formal) writing. This page focuses on absence of experience. Recent completion with mới belongs on Mới for Recent Completion.
How chưa and từng work together
The normal order is:
subject + chưa từng + predicate
Tôi chưa từng ăn món này.
I have never eaten this dish.
Chị ấy chưa từng làm việc ở nước ngoài.
She has never worked abroad.
Chúng tôi chưa từng gặp nhau trước hôm nay.
We had never met before today.
Từng asks us to consider occasions on which the situation might have happened. Chưa says that none has reached realization by the reference point. This compositional logic explains why chưa từng is stronger than plain chưa:
- Tôi chưa ăn món này: I have not eaten this dish yet, perhaps in the current meal or relevant period.
- Tôi chưa từng ăn món này: eating this dish has never been part of my experience.
Tôi chưa ăn sáng; lát nữa tôi sẽ ăn.
I haven't had breakfast yet; I'll eat in a little while.
Tôi chưa từng ăn sầu riêng, nên không biết mình có thích không.
I have never eaten durian, so I don't know whether I like it.
The reference point can move
In isolation, chưa từng normally looks back from now. A time phrase or a narrative can move the boundary into the past or future. English then changes between have never, had never, and will never have, but Vietnamese does not alter the verb.
Trước khi vào đại học, Lan chưa từng sống xa gia đình.
Before starting university, Lan had never lived away from her family.
Cho đến lúc đó, tôi chưa từng nghe ai kể câu chuyện ấy.
Until that point, I had never heard anyone tell that story.
Nếu cứ hoãn thế này thì đến cuối năm, cả nhóm vẫn chưa từng họp đông đủ lần nào.
If we keep postponing like this, by the end of the year the whole group still won't have met all together even once.
In the last example, đến cuối năm establishes a future boundary and vẫn means that the zero-experience state persists. Chưa từng itself does not mean present time.
Event type and what counts as an experience
Bounded actions naturally create countable occasions: đi Đà Nẵng “go to Đà Nẵng,” ăn món này “eat this dish,” and gặp cô ấy “meet her.” With longer activities or states, chưa từng denies any period in which the situation held.
Tôi chưa từng chạy quá mười cây số.
I have never run more than ten kilometers.
Anh ấy chưa từng tin lời hứa đó.
He has never believed that promise.
Suốt mười năm làm nghề, tôi chưa từng thấy thị trường biến động nhanh như vậy.
In ten years in the profession, I have never seen the market change this quickly.
The frame may include a comparison such as chưa từng... như vậy “never... like this.” Here the speaker need not deny all similar experiences; the denied experience is one reaching this degree.
Scope, objects, and negation
Everything inside the predicate can narrow what is denied. Compare:
| Sentence | What has occurred zero times? |
|---|---|
| Tôi chưa từng đọc cuốn sách này. | reading this particular book |
| Tôi chưa từng đọc sách bằng tiếng Việt. | reading books in Vietnamese |
| Tôi chưa từng đọc sách ở đây. | reading books in this place |
| Tôi chưa từng đọc hết cuốn sách. | finishing the whole book |
Do not insert không merely because English uses not. Chưa already provides the negative meaning, while từng supplies the experiential range. Không từng occurs in some marked or edited contexts, but it is not the neutral learner choice for “have never.”
Questions require attention to communicative intent. Bạn đã từng đi Huế chưa? neutrally asks whether the experience exists. Bạn chưa từng đi Huế à? presupposes or reacts to the surprising claim that it does not.
— Bạn chưa từng đi tàu hỏa à? — Chưa, nhưng tháng sau tôi sẽ đi.
— You've never traveled by train? — No, but I will next month.
Where it sits among common markers
These forms are viewpoints, not a tense paradigm:
| Pattern | Core interpretation |
|---|---|
| đã ăn | eating is realized before the reference point |
| đang ăn | eating is in progress |
| sẽ ăn | eating is projected |
| ăn rồi | eating is complete or a relevant state has changed |
| từng đi | going occurred as prior experience |
| mới đến / vừa đến | arrival is recent |
| chưa xong | completion has not been reached |
| chưa từng làm | doing it has occurred zero times |
| sắp mưa | rain is imminent |
| vẫn chờ | waiting continues across a boundary |
Đã is not required in every past report. Hôm qua tôi ăn ở đó is complete because hôm qua dates the event. Rồi is not a mechanical equivalent of the English perfect either: Tôi ăn rồi answers a current question by foregrounding completion, whereas Tôi chưa từng ăn ở đó makes a claim about the entire relevant experience set.
A dialogue where the marker changes the claim
— Cậu từng thuyết trình trước đông người chưa? — Mình chưa từng thuyết trình trước hơn một trăm người. Trước đây mình đã nói trước nhóm nhỏ rồi, nhưng buổi thuyết trình ngày mai sẽ khác. — Vậy tối nay mình tập cùng nhé; đến lúc lên sân khấu cậu sẽ bớt lo.
— Have you ever presented to a large audience? — I have never presented to more than one hundred people. I have spoken to small groups before, but tomorrow's presentation will be different. — Then let's practice together tonight; when you go on stage, you'll be less nervous.
The answer does not say that the speaker has no presentation experience. The phrase trước hơn một trăm người lies within the scope of chưa từng. Đã... rồi then establishes completed small-group experience, and sẽ projects tomorrow's event. The markers organize the discourse without conjugating thuyết trình or nói.
Quick decision aid
Ask what you mean:
- A current task is still outstanding? Use chưa: Báo cáo chưa xong “The report is not finished yet.”
- An event has happened zero times in someone's experience? Use chưa từng: Tôi chưa từng viết báo cáo bằng tiếng Việt “I have never written a report in Vietnamese.”
- You are neutrally asking whether an experience exists? Use đã từng... chưa? or từng... chưa?
- You are reacting with surprise to no experience? Use chưa từng... à? in (informal) speech.
Common Mistakes
1. Copying English auxiliary order with không đã từng. Vietnamese has a dedicated negative-experience sequence.
❌ Tôi không đã từng gặp cô ấy.
Incorrect word order for ‘I have never met her.’
✅ Tôi chưa từng gặp cô ấy.
I have never met her.
2. Using chưa từng for one merely unfinished task. That accidentally means the task has never been done on any relevant occasion.
❌ Hôm nay tôi chưa từng gửi email cho anh.
Wrong if you mean that today's email is simply not sent yet.
✅ Hôm nay tôi chưa gửi email cho anh.
I haven't sent you the email today yet.
3. Treating đã as a compulsory past-tense prefix. The time phrase can locate an event without it.
❌ Hôm qua tôi đã chưa từng đi làm.
Incorrect stacking: đã conflicts with the intended zero-experience claim here.
✅ Trước hôm qua, tôi chưa từng đi làm bằng xe buýt.
Before yesterday, I had never gone to work by bus.
4. Adding rồi simply because English uses a perfect. Rồi adds completion or change and is not part of neutral chưa từng.
❌ Tôi chưa từng ăn món này rồi.
Contradictory for a neutral ‘I have never eaten this dish’: chưa từng denies an occurrence while rồi presents one as completed.
✅ Tôi chưa từng ăn món này.
I have never eaten this dish.
5. Letting never take scope over too much. Keep the restricting phrase inside the predicate when only that experience is absent.
❌ Tôi chưa từng lái xe. Ý tôi là tôi có lái xe, nhưng chưa lái ban đêm.
The first sentence wrongly denies all driving experience.
✅ Tôi chưa từng lái xe ban đêm.
I have never driven at night.
Key Takeaways
- Chưa từng + predicate means that the situation has occurred zero times up to a contextually supplied boundary.
- Plain chưa means “not yet” in a particular relevant situation; chưa từng scans prior experience.
- Temporal phrases and discourse can move the boundary into the past or future.
- Chưa từng is not a tense and does not require đã or rồi.
- Put restrictions such as an object, place, manner, or degree inside the predicate whose experience is being denied.
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Start learning Vietnamese →Related Topics
- Đã Từng and Explicit Prior ExperienceA2 — Use đã từng to make prior experience explicit and contrast it with a current claim, later change, or open question.
- Mới for Recent CompletionA2 — Use preverbal mới to present an event as recent or later and more limited than expected.
- Chưa for Not-Yet and Experiential QuestionsA2 — Use chưa to present an expected event as unrealized so far and to ask whether a relevant boundary has been reached.
- Từng for Past ExperienceA2 — Use từng to present an event, role, or state as part of someone's prior experience rather than as one dated narrative event.