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¿Las chicas han estado alguna vez en una cueva?

¿Las chicas han estado alguna vez en una cueva?
Have the girls ever been in a cave?
From Lesson 116:Present perfect for experiences (alguna vez)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about ¿Las chicas han estado alguna vez en una cueva?

How does alguna vez translate to 'ever' here?
Literally, alguna vez means 'some time' or 'any time'. When used in questions with the present perfect tense (like han estado), it is the standard Spanish way to ask if someone has 'ever' had a specific life experience.
Why isn't alguna vez placed between han and estado, like 'have ever been' in English?
In Spanish, the two parts of this compound tense (han and estado) are permanently glued together. You can never put a word between the helper verb (haber) and the past participle. Time markers like alguna vez usually go right after the complete verb.
Why do we use estado (from estar) instead of sido (from ser) for 'been'?
Even though 'been' comes from the verb 'to be', Spanish still strictly follows the rule of using estar for physical locations. Since the question is about being physically located inside a cave, you must use estar, which becomes estado in this tense.
Could I put the subject las chicas somewhere else in this question?
Yes! Question word order in Spanish is very flexible. You could also ask, '¿Han estado las chicas alguna vez en una cueva?' or '¿Han estado alguna vez en una cueva las chicas?'. Putting the subject at the very beginning, as seen here, is just one perfectly normal option.

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