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Nunca hemos visto un glaciar en nuestra expedición.

Nunca hemos visto un glaciar en nuestra expedición.
We have never seen a glacier on our expedition.
From Lesson 290:Past vs. experiences (alguna vez)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Nunca hemos visto un glaciar en nuestra expedición.

Why use the present perfect (hemos visto) instead of the preterite (vimos) here?
In Latin America, the present perfect is used for ongoing timeframes and life experiences. By using hemos visto, the speaker implies that the expedition is still happening. If the trip were already completely over, they would use the preterite for a closed past event: Nunca vimos un glaciar (We never saw a glacier).
Why is the word for "seen" visto instead of a regular "-ido" ending?
Visto is the irregular past participle of ver (to see). While most regular "-er" verbs form this part by adding "-ido" (like comido for "eaten"), ver is a common exception that you just have to memorize.
Could I put nunca after the verb instead?
Yes, but you would need to add no before the verb. In Spanish, if a negative word like nunca comes before the verb, it stands alone. If it goes after the verb, you must add no before the verb to make a double negative: No hemos visto nunca un glaciar.
Why does the Spanish sentence use en for "on" instead of a word like sobre?
The preposition en translates to "in", "on", or "at" depending on the context. Sobre generally means physically "on top of" a surface. Since an expedition is an event or a period of time rather than a physical object you can stand on, en is the natural choice.

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