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Is it

> みたことがない

or

> みたことはない ?

I'm not sure about the particle for this. Can both be used? Or which is
better? (And why is it so?)

Thanks!
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2017-11-26T05:32:01.620
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2020-12-31T08:14:10.953
2020-12-31T08:14:10.953
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question
grammar
たform+こと が/は(particle) ない?
This is a good question because quite a few Japanese-learners do use the two
as if they were completely interchangeable. They are not.

> 「みたこと **が** ない」

makes a simple and neutral statement saying you have not seen something. You
just do not have the experience. If I said:

> 「パイプオルガンを見{み}たこと **が** ない。」

all it means is that I have not seen a pipe organ. Plain and simple. I am not
implying anything.

> 「みたこと **は** ない」

, however, **_implies_** either:

1) you have not seen A, but you have B (or C)

or

2) you have not seen something, but have done something else (other than
seeing) with/about it.

This is all made possible by the use of the **_contrastive_** **は**.

Thus, if I said:

> 「パイプオルガンを見たこと **は** ない。」

I would be implying either:

1) I have never seen a pipe organ, but have seen another instrument.

or, for instance,

2) I have not **seen** a pipe organ but I have **listened** to pipe organ
music.

The smallest words are often the most important words in Japanese. I am, of
course, referring to our particles.
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2017-11-26T06:10:50.063
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answer
～をみたことはない CAN carry contrastive nuance, but it is the same as ～をみたことがない in,
say, 50% of the cases. This is because は is used commonly in negative
sentences without any contrastive connotation. See: [Why is the topic marker
often used in negative statements (ではない,
～とは思わない)?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/1077/5010)

> originally, the pattern ～ではない was used to only mark a strong contrast of the
> entire predication to something else (e.g. something that was said or
> implied before by someone else), but later became more and more popularized
> until what originally was a contrast marker became an almost necessary
> feature of the negative form.

* * *

For example, this [this news
article](https://news.nifty.com/article/sports/soccer/12192-653971/) uses both
expressions:

>   * (私の就任から)こんなに悪い試合は見たことはない。
>   * (長年、監督を続けていますけど、)こんなに内容の悪い試合は見たことがない。
>

...both of which (neutrally) mean "I have never seen such a bad game." I can
see no significant difference between the two here. ～は見たことがない MAY imply
contrastive nuance depending on the context, but it's often quite neutral and
is safely interchangeable with こんなに悪い試合を見たことがない。
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2017-11-27T03:27:42.990
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answer