Chinese phrase
之前发生过吗？ zhī qián fā shēng guò ma
Meaning
Has this happened before?
When to use it
Asks whether the same thing happened at an earlier time. It is a neutral way to check if an event or problem has happened before.
Example dialogue
电脑突然重启，之前发生过吗？ diàn nǎo tū rán chóng qǐ zhī qián fā shēng guò ma
The computer suddenly restarted. Has this happened before?
没有，今天是第一次出现这个问题。 méi yǒu jīn tiān shì dì yí cì chū xiàn zhè ge wèn tí
No, this is the first time this problem has happened today.