# I've lived in Europe before.



## yuechu

大家好！

I was looking at a map of Europe with an ESL student and was telling them that I'd lived in Europe before. In Chinese, would this be "我以前在欧洲住过（一段时间）"?
Thanks!


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## SimonTsai

Your sentence works (with or without the brackets).


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## yuechu

Thanks, Simon!
How about "我以前住过欧洲（了）"?


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## SimonTsai

That's possible, too, but adding '了' would make it wrong.


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## yuechu

Oh, is that because of 过? (making 了 redundant here?)

Thanks, Simon!


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## SimonTsai

I think it's the existence or non-existence (or the strength) of the link between the past and the present that makes '我吃過飯了' correct and your second attempt sound wrong.


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## SuperXW

yuechu said:


> Thanks, Simon!
> How about "我以前住过欧洲（了）"?


Adding 了 sounds like: I have lived in Europe before, and now I'm done with that. I'm not planning to live there again.


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## T.D

<我以前住过欧洲了> can work but only in very specific contexts. (And it sounds like you are not happy with your living there, and you don't want to do that anymore)


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## nightowl666

yuechu said:


> Thanks, Simon!
> How about "我以前住过欧洲（了）"?


If you add 了 at the end of the sentence, there is a nuance depending on the context. Normally, it means I have been in Europe before, but now I am no longer there. 了 in some context means "have/has been done".


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## RayXUUUU

yuechu said:


> Thanks, Simon!
> How about "我以前住过欧洲（了）"?


I think it is not as good as the first one, and it is uncommon, at least in the mainland. "我在...住过" and "我住过..." do have nuances I believe. 
"我在...住过" covers a wider range of places, which means you can fill almost *any "place"* in the blank, whether it's a large area or a particular place. It can generally mean "I('ve) lived in...", and is an equivalent to "我在...生活过". 
But if you use "我住过...", then it *should better* be followed by *a specific spot* where you go to sleep every night, like a house, or a room. "我住过这个房间" "我住过这栋房子". 
You can opt for the first one just to be on the safe side.


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your explanations! They help me a lot


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## Ding Guangbo

“我以前*住在*欧洲” or “我以前在欧洲*住过*” 意思基本上是一样的。（"I lived in Europe before" or "I lived in Europe before" mean basically the same thing.）


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## ovaltine888

I thought Taiwanese would put “*有*住*过*....” whenever there is a perfect tense.
It turns out I am probably wrong.


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