You might be familiar with using 过 () to indicate that an action has been experienced in the past, but then also see it used together with 了 (). What's going on here? If you're already familiar with the basic usage of both 了 () and 过 (), then a special explanation of how they sometimes work together is now in order.
Verb + 过 + 了
You'll notice that this pattern is often used for everyday behaviors. It's used for actions like "eating" and "brushing one's teeth" and "taking a shower."
For the examples above, you could have inserted an object to modify the basic pattern, getting this:
Verb + 过 + Obj. + 了
The object has been inserted in the sentences below:
You would be right to point out that 过 () is mainly used to call attention to the fact that someone has had an experience. This is the basic pattern pointed out in the article on the basic usage of the aspectual particle 过 (). In the examples above, though, it's not any "once-in-a-lifetime" experiences being expressed, it's more just the information that these actions are done. Here, 过 () and 了 () work together to emphasize that an action is already done. This is why the translations on the side add the word "already" in parentheses at the end; this is the feeling the sentences give you. In fact, to emphasize the idea of already done even further, you could add the word for "already," 已经 (), before the verbs in the examples below, and it also works just fine:
So when would you use the sentences above? You'd be emphasizing that the action has already occurred (so it doesn't need to be done again), so it would probably be something like this:
For the eating example:
For the tooth brushing example:
For the taking a shower example: