"Last time" VERSUS "The last time"

[Tom]

Hi

Could you please tell me which one of the sentences quoted below sounds more natural to you?

1- When did you see him last time.?
2- When did you see him the last time.?

Tom

[Jamie (K)]

Both sound more natural to me.

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

All of these sound even more natural to me:

When did you see him last?
When did you last see him?
When was the last time you saw him?

Amy

[Tom]

That was the last time I ever saw him.
That was last time I ever saw him.



Tom

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

Although Alan has been hearing people omitting articles lately, I'll nevertheless tell you that it's absolutely, positively, unquestionably impossible to omit the word 'the' in this case. Only the first sentence is correct:

That was the last time I ever saw him.

And, of course, the idea of 'last' in your previous post is a little different from your first post.

Amy

[Jamie (K)]

"Last time" in your first post serves an adverbial function, which is why the article can be omitted. In your last post, it is serving only as a noun phrase, not as an adverbial. I think this has something to do with the reason "the" is optional in your first sentences but not in your other one.