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How to Say ‘I’ve seen you somewhere before.’ in Japanese

あなた、どこかで見たことある。

anata doko ka de mi ta koto aru

[anata]

💬 Usage Tip: [〜たことある] is the everyday pattern for "have done before," so [見たことある] means "have seen before." [どこかで] means "somewhere," with [で] marking the place where it happened.

🇯🇵 In Japan: As a pickup line this is fairly believable, since it sounds like a casual opener rather than pure poetry. But [あなた] can make it feel less natural than the English translation suggests.

Phrase Breakdown

あなた、どこかで

anata

Words in this phrase

あなた

anata

[anata]

you

Refers to another person.

Example

あなたはどちら様ですか?

Who are you?

見たことある。

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