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I have to create negative question in present perfect:

enter image description here

I know how to ask positive question, it will be:

"Have you ever paid a bill?"

But the task says "not pay" so should I ask:

"Have you ever didn't pay a bill?"

I guess I cannot ask

"Haven't you ever ..."

because it will be another meaning.

So to do this exercise I have to use never/ever it's necessary.

Thanks.

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  • Have you never paid the bill, Haven't you ever paid a bill
    – Bella Swan
    Mar 26, 2019 at 12:30

3 Answers 3

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There is a difference between

Haven't you ever paid a bill?

and

Have you ever not paid a bill?

The first one asks if you have never ever paid bills. The second one asks if you, at one time or another, did not pay a bill.

Both sentences are correct; I'm just not sure which one they want to hear ;)

By the way, you can use sentences with "Did" if you want.

Didn't you ever pay a bill?

and

Did you ever not pay a bill?

But you can't use "have" and "did" in the same sentence.

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  • "Have you ever not paid a bill?" That's what I was looking for, thanks!
    – Taras Kryvko
    Mar 26, 2019 at 13:03
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Side comment: The first person singular pronoun must always be spelled with the capital letter I, not with the small letter i.

"Have you ever paid a bill?"

is correct

"Have you ever didn't pay a bill?"

is definitely not correct, using both "have" and "did" together with "pay".

"Haven't you ever ..."

may be correct, depending on what will follow.

The following are both correct:

  • Have you never paid a bill?
  • Haven't you ever paid a bill?

But the image in the question uses "has", so I assume it should be in the 3rd person singular:

  • Has he never paid a bill?
  • Hasn't she ever paid a bill?
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  • 1
    “Paid” instead of “pay” should follow “ever”, otherwise I agree with the highlighted sentences.
    – Mixolydian
    Mar 26, 2019 at 12:50
  • The mother of copy and paste! Of course you are right :) Thanks.
    – virolino
    Mar 26, 2019 at 12:52
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You said the positive question was:

"Have you ever paid a bill?"

This is asking if you have, at any time in the past, paid any bill (because it uses the indefinite article).

I would say that the opposite of this would be:

Have you ever not paid a bill?

This asks if you ever knowingly neglected to pay a bill that was owing.

There are other aspects of the sentence that could be negated resulting in differing meanings, for example:

Haven't you ever paid a bill?

or

Have you never paid a bill?

These might be used to express some surprise that someone has never paid any bill.

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