Life experiences with "alguna vez"
In Spanish, you can use the present perfect to talk about life experiences—things you have or haven't done at some point in your life.
When asking someone if they have "ever" done an activity, such as an extreme sport, use the phrase alguna vez. This phrase usually goes at the end of the question.
| Have you ever jumped with a parachute? | ¿Has saltado en paracaídas alguna vez? |
| Has she ever climbed that mountain? | ¿Ha escalado ella esa montaña alguna vez? |
Counting experiences and saying "never"
When answering, you can specify how many times you have done the activity using the word vez (time or occurrence). For plural times, like "twice" or "two times", use veces.
| My friends have dived with sharks twice. | Mis amigos han buceado con tiburones dos veces. |
If you have never experienced the adventure, use the word nunca. Place nunca before the conjugated verb (the haber part of the present perfect).
| I have never flown in a paraglider. | Nunca he volado en parapente. |
Bringing it all together
You can easily combine these time markers with new vocabulary to contrast different adventures. Notice how regular verbs like escalar (to climb) follow the standard -ado participle rule, while ver (to see) has the irregular participle visto.
| My grandfather has never climbed a tree, but he has seen a shark. | Mi abuelo nunca ha escalado un árbol, pero ha visto un tiburón. |