[Grammar] It was the first time to visit an Indian restaurant- What is the mistake?

[lalimanju]

This is urgent!
"It was the first time for us to visit an Indian restaurant!"
This sentence sounds wrong to me . I feel it should be "It was the first time we visited an Indian restaurant." I would really welcome convincing explanations for why the first sentence is not correct.

 

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

Unfortunately, I'm not well-versed enough in the finer points of grammar to tell you precisely why that first sentence is wrong. I can tell you it would sound somewhat better if you used the present progressive instead of an infinitive. Your second sentence is fine, though I'd personally make it past perfect.

 

[BobK]

I rarely answer questions that are claimed to be 'urgent', but I'm making an exception because contexts that would justify a present progressive are very rare - and certainly not after the simple past ('was'). 'Could you give me some guidance on ordering, please? We are visiting an Indian reastaurant for the first time' - that would be possible, though a present/present perfect combination would be more likely: 'This is the first time we 've visited an Indian restaurant.'

Outside an exam or a class, you could get away with using no verb at all apart from 'is': 'This is our first time in/visit to an Indian restaurant.'

b

 

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

Just forget about that first sentence. Here's how a native would say it:

"It was our first time visiting an Indian restaurant."
"It was our first visit to an Indian restaurant."
"It was our first time in an Indian restaurant."

 

[emsr2d2]

It was our first time at an Indian restaurant.
It was our first visit to an Indian restaurant.