Breakdown of watasi ha hitori de rusuban wo sitakoto ga arimasen.
Questions & Answers about watasi ha hitori de rusuban wo sitakoto ga arimasen.
留守番（るすばん） literally combines kanji that mean “stay / remain”, “protect / guard”, and “turn / duty.”
In everyday use, 留守番をする means:
- to stay behind at home while others are out,
- with the nuance of “looking after the house / holding down the fort.”
In this sentence, with 一人で, the overall idea is:
- “stay home alone (while others are out)”,
usually with the nuance of being the one left at home, taking care of the place.
It’s not used for just being at home in general. For that, you’d say things like:
- 家にいる – to be at home
- 家で過ごす – to spend time at home
留守番 implies someone else (e.g., family) has gone out, and you’re watching the house.
The particle で here marks means/manner, so 一人で means “by oneself / alone” in the sense of how the action is done.
- 一人 by itself = “one person” (as a noun)
- 一人で = “alone, by myself” (as an adverbial phrase modifying the verb)
Compare:
- バスで行く – go by bus (means)
- 一人で行く – go alone / by myself (manner)
So in your sentence:
- 一人で留守番をする
= “to do the 留守番 by oneself / alone”
Without で, 一人 wouldn’t clearly function as “alone” modifying the action.
こと is a nominalizer here: it turns the whole verb phrase into a “thing” or “experience.”
The pattern is:
- V-た + こと + がある = have done V (at some time before)
- V-た + こと + がない / ありません = have never done V
So in your sentence:
- 留守番をした = did 留守番 / stayed home to watch the house
- 留守番をしたこと = the experience of having done 留守番
- ～がありません = “there is not”
Put together:
- 留守番をしたことがありません。
Literally: “There is no such experience as ‘having done 留守番’.”
Natural English: “I have never stayed home alone (to mind the house).”
Without こと, you couldn’t use ある / ない in this standard “experience” pattern.
With ある / ない, が is the normal particle to mark the thing that exists or doesn’t exist.
- 本があります。 – There is a book. / I have a book.
- お金がありません。 – There is no money. / I don’t have money.
In your pattern:
- （V-た）ことがある / ない
= There is / isn’t such an experience.
So:
- 留守番をしたことがありません。
= “Such an experience (of having done 留守番) does not exist.”
You might see V-たことはない too, but that uses は to topicalize and often slightly emphasizes the contrast:
- したことはないけど、話は聞いたことがある。
“I’ve never done it, but I’ve heard about it.”
The set pattern for “have (never) done” is V-たことがある / ない, with が.
The verb した by itself is past:
- 留守番をした。 – I did 留守番. / I stayed home and watched the house.
But in the pattern:
- V-た + ことがある / ない
the V-た form is not simple past; it’s part of a fixed construction that expresses experience up to now, similar to the English present perfect:
- したことがある – “have done (it before)”
- したことがない / ありません – “have never done (it before)”
So した here isn’t acting as the final tense marker; the whole chunk したことがありません is a single unit meaning “have never done.”
留守番 is originally a noun. With する, it becomes a “suru-verb”:
- 留守番をする or 留守番する – to do 留守番 / to stay home and watch the house.
Grammatically:
- 留守番 = the noun “house-sitting / minding the house”
- 留守番をする = to do 留守番 (treating 留守番 as a direct object with を)
- Then you conjugate する:
- 留守番をした – did 留守番
- 留守番をしている – is doing 留守番
- 留守番をしたことがある – have done 留守番
So in 留守番をしたことがありません, 留守番を is the object of した (past of する).
They mark different relationships:
を – marks the direct object of する:
- 留守番をした
- 留守番 = thing you do
- を = direct object marker
- した = did
- 留守番をした
が – marks the subject of ある / ない (the thing that exists/doesn’t exist):
- したことがありません
- したこと = the “experience of having done it”
- が = subject of ありません
- ありません = does not exist
- したことがありません
Stacked together in the full phrase:
- 留守番をした – did 留守番
- 留守番をしたこと – the experience of having done 留守番
- 留守番をしたことがありません – there is no such experience
So を connects 留守番 to した, and が connects したこと to ありません.
You could, but the nuance is different and less natural for “have never (in my life) done it.”
留守番をしたことがありません。
= “I have never (in my life so far) done 留守番.”
This is about past experience up to now.留守番することがありません。
Literally: “There is no occasion on which I do 留守番.”
This sounds more like:- “There are no (situations/times when) I do 留守番.”
- or “I do not (typically / ever) do 留守番.”
For the common “have never done X before,” the V-た + ことがない / ありません pattern is the standard, natural choice, so:
- 留守番をしたことがありません。 is better here.
They express the same basic meaning (“have never done (it)”), but differ in politeness:
したことがありません。
- Polite form (～ません).
- Suitable in most formal or neutral contexts.
したことがない。
- Plain form (～ない).
- Used with friends, family, or in casual speech.
You’ll also often hear the slightly more casual contraction:
- したことない。 (dropping が) – very conversational.
So your sentence:
私 は 一人で 留守番を したことが ありません。
is the polite way of saying it.
In casual style, you might say:一人で留守番したことない。
留守番をしません and 留守番をしたことがありません are not the same.
留守番をしません。
= “I do not do 留守番.”
→ This sounds like a present/habitual refusal or policy:- “I don’t (agree to) stay home to watch the house.”
- “I don’t do that (as a rule).”
留守番をしたことがありません。
= “I have never done 留守番 (in my life so far).”
→ This talks about past experience (or lack of it) up to now.
So if the intended meaning is “I have never (yet) stayed home alone to mind the house,” you need したことがありません, not しません.
You can absolutely omit 私 if the subject is clear from context. Japanese commonly drops pronouns.
So:
- 一人で留守番をしたことがありません。
by itself is a perfectly natural sentence, and would normally be understood as “I have never stayed home alone to watch the house.” unless context indicates someone else.
You usually keep 私 は when you:
- need to contrast yourself with others, or
- are introducing yourself or clarifying the subject:
私は一人で留守番をしたことがありませんが、弟はよくします。
I have never stayed home alone to mind the house, but my younger brother often does.
You have some flexibility with word order, but some positions are more natural than others.
Most natural:
- 私は一人で留守番をしたことがありません。
- 一人で留守番をしたことがありません。 (dropping 私)
Less natural / a bit awkward:
- 私は留守番を一人でしたことがありません。
Native speakers might still understand it, but 一人で usually comes:
- just before the verb phrase it modifies, or
- right after the topic 私は, if it applies to the whole action:
Best to stick with patterns like:
- 私は一人で留守番をしたことがありません。
- 私は今まで一人で留守番をしたことがありません。
Putting 一人で between 留守番を and したこと tends to feel clunky.
Both are used:
- 留守番をする
- 留守番する
With suru-verbs formed from nouns, を is often optional in modern Japanese:
- 勉強（べんきょう）をする / 勉強する – to study
- 運動（うんどう）をする / 運動する – to exercise
- 掃除（そうじ）をする / 掃除する – to clean
Both forms are correct. Many people use 留守番する in speech; 留守番をする can sound a bit clearer or slightly more careful, but it’s not a big difference.
In your sentence, 留守番をしたことがありません is perfectly fine and natural; 留守番したことがありません would also be grammatical and understandable.