"have you ever been in Germany?"

[signal grove]

I've heard both the following sentences:
"Warst du schon Mal in Deutschland?"
"Bist du schon Mal in Deutschland gewesen?"

Is one more used than the other or carries a different meaning? Is one correct while the other is not?

Also, would it make any difference to replace the schon einmal with jemals?

[blazing silo]

*mal (since it's short for "einmal") They mean exactly the same thing. In Standard German, the 1st version is preferred. You can use "jemals" instead of "schon [ein]mal", but I'd say it would be less common. 🌻

[signal grove]

Woops that was autocorrector, but thanks for the heads up just to be sure :)

Okok that's very kind, thanks a million times <3

As an answer would the use of nichtmal correct?
"Ich war nichtmal in Deutschland"
Is this used at all?

No actually I think the meaning is not this one

Ok yes forget it that was a brainfart haha

[dim kestrel]

You're right!