LEARN + JAPANESE / Note 74 JLPT N5
Still, Already (まだ・もう)
まだ means “still,” もう means “already.” Both describe where something stands relative to a change, and both shift meaning once a negative verb shows up next to them.
I'm still waiting for the train at the station.
No, I haven't eaten yet.
In Real Life
まだ paired with a negative doesn’t mean “still not,” it means “not yet.” まだ食べていません is the standard way to answer “have you eaten?” with a no, the event just hasn’t happened up to this point, it isn’t a permanent refusal.
I already bought it.
I don't eat chocolate anymore.
In Real Life
もう paired with a negative flips to “not anymore,” describing something that used to be true and now isn’t, the opposite direction from まだ’s “not yet.” Both words describe the same idea, a state relative to change, まだ looks at what hasn’t happened up to now, もう looks at what has, or has stopped.
Vocabulary
| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| to run | |
| bus stop | |
| order (at a shop) | |
| refrigerator | |
| to date, go out with | |
| to collect, gather | |
| to be visible, to seem | |
| pretty, clean | |
| university student | |
| to meet | |
| from now | |
| for now, at this point | |
| soon, about time | |
| just finished | |
| shortly, before long | |
| still continuing | |
| long ago, well before now | |
| to be finished, settled | |
| in preparation | |
| to resolve, solve |