เคย ... ไหม

Have You Ever

Level 2

The pattern เคย ... ไหม asks about previous experience. The relevant period is understood from the situation; it need not always mean a whole lifetime.

How It Works

Asking About Experience:
A pattern shown in these examples is [Subject] + เคย + [Verb] + [Object] + ไหม? The subject or object can be understood from context when it is not stated.

Previous Experience:
เคย before the verb phrase gives the experience reading in these questions. English can express it with Have you ever...? Thai does not require the verb to take an English present-perfect form. The question concerns experience within a relevant period, rather than necessarily a whole lifetime. เคย also has other readings in other constructions, including used to.

Question Particle:
ไหม follows the phrase being questioned. The linked มั้ย lesson concerns a spoken variant. A polite particle can come after the question particle, as in the final example with ครับ.

Short Answers:
For the experience reading, เคย affirms previous experience and ไม่เคย denies it. The first task practices that direct experience answer. It does not make ใช่ impossible as an affirmation in every conversational context.

Experience or Completion:
Asking whether an experience has happened before differs from asking whether a particular action has happened yet. The third task supplies a completion question with หรือยัง for its intended meaning. A recent time expression alone does not establish a universal ban on เคย; choose the construction for the meaning you intend.

Examples (4)

  1. คุณเคยไปเชียงใหม่ไหม?

    Have you ever been to Chiang Mai?

    Word by Word: You + ever + go + Chiang Mai + [question]?

    This question asks about previous visits to Chiang Mai; it does not state when a visit happened or how many visits there were.

  2. เคยทานทุเรียนไหม?

    Have you ever eaten durian?

    Word by Word: Ever + eat + durian + [question]?

    No subject is stated in the Thai question. The English you is supplied by the conversational context.

  3. เขาเคยเรียนภาษาไทยไหม?

    Has he ever studied Thai?

    Word by Word: He + ever + study + language + Thai + [question]?

    This asks whether เขา has previously studied Thai. The English he is a contextual rendering; the Thai pronoun does not by itself specify that gender.

  4. เคยเห็นผีไหมครับ?

    Have you ever seen a ghost? (polite)

    Word by Word: Ever + see + ghost + [question] + [polite male]?

    ครับ follows the question particle in this example and adds politeness. No subject is stated; the English you is understood from context.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a general affirmation instead of the experience answer practiced here.

    เคยไปไหม? - ใช่
    เคยไปไหม? - เคย

    The supplied correction answers the experience question with เคย. For the negative experience answer, use ไม่เคย. This task practices echoing the experience marker, rather than declaring ใช่ wrong in every context.

  • Incorrect word order (putting 'ever' after the verb).

    คุณไปเคยไหม?
    คุณเคยไปไหม?

    For the intended experience question, เคย comes before ไป: คุณเคยไปไหม? Keep this order in the pattern practiced here.

  • Using an experience question when the intended question asks about completion.

    เมื่อเช้าเคยทานข้าวไหม?
    เมื่อเช้าทานข้าวหรือยัง?

    For the intended question about whether the meal has happened yet, the supplied correction uses หรือยัง. Choose that completion reading instead of an experience reading here; this is not a rule that เคย can never occur with a recent time expression.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

เคย ... ไหมLevel 2Have You Ever

Learn This First

To ask 'Have you ever...?', you need to combine the experience marker 'เคย' with the yes-no question particle 'ไหม'. This pattern follows the standard Thai sentence structure where the experience marker precedes the verb and the question particle is placed at the very end.

Words in This Pattern

เคยเคย