What is the difference between V(으)ㄴ 적이 있다 and V(아/어) 보다?

Question

Both seems to express past experience.

For example,

• 막걸리 마셔 봤어요? Have you tried to drink maggeolli?/Have you ever drunk maggeolli?
• 서울에 가 봤어요? Have you ever been to Seoul?
• 생낙지 안 먹어 봤어요 I never never eaten live octopus.
• 인도 영화를 본 적이 있어요 I have seen an Indian movie.

It seems very similar to me. Are they interchangeable?

For example, what would be the difference between "제주도에 가봤어요?" and "제주도에 간 적이 있어요?" ? This is especially confusing since my textbook also combine both structures into "제주도에 가 본 적이 있어요?" (가다 -> 가 보다 -> 가 본 적이 있다).

Answer 1

아/어 보다 does not necessarily denote past tense. It is equivalent to the meaning "TRY TO" in English. Example:

알아보다 -> 알다 + 아/어보다 -> try to know

시도해 봐! -> Try!

내 제안을 생각해 볼 수 있다 -> You can consider (try to think of) my proposal.

은/ㄴ 적이 있다 indicates that an agent had the EXPERIENCE of doing something, so it has to be in past tense. Example:

서울에 간 적이 있어요? -> Have you been to Seoul? (Did you have the experience of going to Seoul?)

Their focuses are different.

아/어 보다 focuses on the TRY.

적이 있다 focuses on the EXPERIENCE instead.

Answer 2

I think the answer by Super Cool Handsome Gel Boy makes sense, so let me supplement it. In my opinion, 아/어 보다 could be translated as 'try ~ing' rather than 'try to'. But I am not so confident in my English, so I need English speakers' help.

According to my understanding, 'try ~ing' is used when you are doing something already or try to do something expecting some future influence. For instance,

I am trying going vegetarian. (I have already stopped eating meat for a while.)

Try being quiet. (Be quiet and keep quiet.)

If this understanding is correct, I can give an explanation. Two expressions would be translated as

1. ㄴ적이 있다: there was an event that ~ (better translated as 'have ever ~')

2. 아/어 보다: try ~ing

If you are using the second expression in the past tense, you are saying that the action was already taken. So two sentences are basically the same in this case and can be used interchangeably. Of course you can combine two expressions.

3. 아/어 본 적이 있다 (have ever tried ~ing).

I think the third expression is most common in Korea because it sounds somewhat polite. The following might be an answer to Rathony.

• 서울에 가려고 했는데 못 갔다. (correct)

I tried to go to Seoul but couldn't.

• 서울에 가 봤는데 못 갔다. (very weird and not recommended, could possibly be used by some comedians because 가다 could be interpreted as either 'go' or 'reach')

I tried going to Seoul but couldn't.

• 서울 방향으로 가 봤는데, 다리가 끊어져서 도착하지 못했다. (fixed)

I tried going toward Seoul, but couldn't reach it because the bridge was broken.

Answer 3

Since I promised to post an answer, I will try to keep my promise. I am not sure how fluent you are in Korean or other languages, but you should always remember that you can't use another language's grammar or nuance to study a different language. It could be an efficient way to study Korean using English grammar and their usage differences when you start to study Korean, but unfortunately, the Korean language or any other languages that I've studied or encountered don't work the same way as the English language does.

- 보다 is an auxiliary verb which indicates mainly "trying" or "experience". You can never know what it exactly means without any context. For example:

먹어 보다 could mean (1) try eating (a new food) or (2) have an experience of eating.

1. 산낙지 먹어 봤어요? It could mean "Have you tried eating a raw octopus?" or "Do you have any experience of eating a raw octopus?"

2. 산낙지 먹어 본 적이 있으세요? It means the same as above. Literally, it could be best translated to "Do you have time when you ate a raw octopus?" There is no big difference between the two.

You need to note that -적 is a dependent noun that indicates time when an action or state occurred or passed. Therefore, there is no reason to differentiate the two sentences.

The only differences I see is

No. 1 sentence is more colloquial and less respectful than No. 2. For example, when you speak to your senior that you don't feel very close to, it's better to use No. 2. Depending on context, No. 1 might sound challenging and argumentative, especially when you are engaged in argument.

Note: 알아보다 has a completely different meaning than explaind in another answer. It is not recommended to use it with -보다 auxiliary because they have the same ending.