まだ - still? or yet?
It can be confusing for people to understand the difference between ’still’ and ‘yet’, so I decided to try to explain it, and give some examples.
confusing - 紛らわしい
decided to try to explain - 説明してみることにした
First, let’s look at ‘yet’. ‘Yet’ can only be used in questions and negative sentences. Let’s look at negatives first, as this kind of sentence is very common.
negative sentences - 否定文
- I haven’t decided yet. (私は、まだ決めてない)
- He isn’t home yet. (彼は、まだ家に帰ってない)
- She doesn’t seem to understand much yet. (彼女は、まだあまり分からないようだ）
This combination of ‘not’ and ‘yet’ gives the meaning 「まだ～しない」. ‘Not yet’ can be used on its own just like 「まだ」 in Japanese.
combination - 組み合わせ・結合
on its own - そのまま（ちゃんとした文の中じゃなくてもいい）
- Have you paid the telephone bill? (電話料金を払った？)
- Not yet. I was going to do it tomorrow morning.(まだです。明日の朝やろうと思っていた)
‘Still’ can also be used in negative sentences. The meaning is basically the same, but stronger - the implication is that you expected something to happen sooner and are perhaps a little surprised that it hasn’t happened yet…
basically - 基本的に // implication - 含み
- He still hasn’t paid me back the money I lent him last month. (彼は、私が先月貸してあげたお金をまだ返してない)
- Really?! Maybe you should give him a call about it.(本当？多分彼に電話したほうがいいじゃない)
In this conversation it sounds like the first speaker is complaining that the money has not been paid back yet.
is complaining - 文句を言っている
- He hasn’t paid me back the money yet. (彼はまだお金を返してない)
- Oh really? When is he going to? (そうですか？いつ返すつもりかな？)
In this conversation, there is no strong sense of a complaint. The first speaker is simply stating a fact without any particular nuances of surprise or displeasure. He may not be entirely happy about not having his money back, but if he was angry about it he would probably have used ’still’.
complaint - 文句
is simply stating a fact - ただ事実を述べているだけ
displeasure - 不快
‘Yet’ cannot be used on its own in positive sentences, so in this case you have to use ’still’. There is no particular nuance of irritation or surprise in such positive sentences, though that also depends on the speaker’s intonation.
irritation - 苛立ち
- She is still living with her parents. (彼女はまだ両親と一緒に住んでいる)
- He’s over 50 but still plays cricket every weekend.
- The children were still watching TV when I got back from work at 10pm.
In questions, you can use ‘yet’ or ’still’. First, let’s look at ‘yet’ in some questions.
- Have you finished yet?
- Do you understand yet?
- Can you leave work yet?
- Is he on his way yet?
These sentences can be quite difficult to translate into Japanese, as the meaning falls somewhere between 「もう終わった？」 and 「まだ終わってないですか？」. There is no particular nuance of impatience or surprise in these questions, though as above intonation is important. ‘Yet’ is used with the Present Perfect or the Present Simple as there is always a sense of connection with the present (「今までに」). ‘Yet’ is usually used in questions that ask if something is finished or complete.
impatience - やきもき・いらいら // as above - 上の通り
Present Perfect - 現在完了形 // Present Simple - 現在形
Or, you can use still in questions. The meaning is slightly different, but easily-translatable into Japanese.
easily-translatable - 訳しやすい
- Are you still waiting? (あなたは、まだ待っているの？)
- Do you still play golf? (あなたは、まだゴルフをやっていますか？)
- Can you still play the piano? (あなたは、まだピアノが弾けますか？)
‘Still’ is used in questions that ask if something is continuing from the past until now.
Finally, compare these 3 sentences :
- Can you still play the piano? (あなたは、まだピアノが弾けますか？)
- Can you play the piano yet? (あなたは、もうピアノが弾けるようになったか？）
- Can’t you play the piano yet? （あなたは、まだピアノが弾けないのですか？）
So, in questions the meaning of ’still’ and ‘yet’ is quite different. ‘Still’ asks if something is continuing even now, and ‘yet’ asks if something has been finished, completed or achieved by now.
achieved - 成し遂げられた // by now - 今までに
Dromiceius wrote:
I found this very informative… somewhat ironic, considering it was an English lesson. Excellent work, Ben!
Posted on 24-Aug-06 at 3:10 pm | Permalink
goofy2feet wrote:
lol, yes, it did occur to me that explanations in English and examples with Japanese translations would lead to reverse benefits…
Posted on 24-Aug-06 at 6:16 pm | Permalink
bambo4 wrote:
Can you play the piano yet? (あなたは、もうピアノが弾けるようになったか？）
I don’t quite get the meaning of this sentence. The best I can guess is まだピアノが弾けるの？ but you would in that case say “Can you play the piano still?” I remain confused.
Posted on 26-Aug-06 at 4:39 am | Permalink
ben wrote:
With ‘Can you play the piano yet?’, the person asking the question knows that his friend has started learning the piano recently. He is asking whether he has already become able to play the piano, or whether he still needs more time to master this new skill. The Japanese I gave （「あなたは、もうピアノが弾けるようになったか」） is the nearest one can get to the English expression. I think the key is in understanding that questions with ‘yet’ are about whether something is finished, completed or achieved by the present moment.
「まだピアノがひけるの」is completely different and would be translated as you say, with ‘Can you still play the piano?’.
Posted on 26-Aug-06 at 10:04 am | Permalink
Enoshima wrote:
Very interesting.
I remember we were talking about まだ（still , yet) and もう (already, no longer, yet) in another forum.
Could I ask you a question?
As for the sentence “Can you play the piano yet?”,
can I change “yet” to “already” ?
By the way, if I have a small question relating to your blog, is it OK to ask here? Of course if it’s a long question, I’ll post it in BBS though.
Posted on 26-Aug-06 at 3:20 pm | Permalink
bambo4 wrote:
I see and that makes sense. I was thrown off by “yet” as i have never heard “yet” used in that sense. If ‘Can you play the piano yet?’ has any negative connotation, まだピアノ弾けるようにならないの sounds suitable, but I have no qualms with もうピアノが弾けるようになったか.
Posted on 26-Aug-06 at 10:29 pm | Permalink
ben wrote:
Enoshima : please feel free to ask any questions you have either here or in the bbs. ‘Can you play the piano already?’ would imply surprise at someone learning the piano so quickly. ‘Can you play the piano yet?’ is fairly neutral in terms of whether one thinks it has taken a long time to finish/complete/achieve a certain goal or not. I hope that’s clear.
bamboo4 : yes, and as I just tried to explain to Enoshima, apart from any intonation that you may use, generally speaking ‘yet’ is fairly neutral falling between まだならないの and もうなったの.
Posted on 27-Aug-06 at 8:09 pm | Permalink
Enoshima wrote:
Thanks, Ben san. Very interesting.
What do you think these translations?
“Can you play the piano already? Wow! great!”
「もうピアノがひけるの？ すごい！」
“By the way, can you play the piano yet?”
「ところで、もうピアノがひけるようになった？」
Posted on 27-Aug-06 at 10:17 pm | Permalink
ben wrote:
Yes, it looks like you’ve got it!
Posted on 28-Aug-06 at 11:28 am | Permalink
bamboo4 wrote:
Somehow, I cannot get rid of my gut feeling that “yet” inherently has the negativistic connotations.
“You have not finshied tidying up your room, YET!”
“You haven’t learned to play the piano, YET”
“YET(e.g., despite of what you say), I think Einstein could not stomack the idea that God played with dice in terms of quantum physics.”
(Please note that YET is used for emphasis and I am not yelling.)
“Have you gotten around to play the piano?” sounds more palatable to me.
Posted on 29-Aug-06 at 4:21 am | Permalink
ben wrote:
Yes bamboo4, I think your instinct is correct in that ‘yet’ does have a slight sense of impatience to it. But this is only a slight nuance, and not anywhere near as strong as ’still’. Perhaps my example of ‘Can you play the piano yet?’ is rather clumsy; ‘Have you mastered the piano yet?’ is perhaps a better example to use. I imagine it being asked with a slightly wry smile…
Posted on 29-Aug-06 at 9:00 am | Permalink
bamboo4 wrote:
Okay, on that basis, I agree with you 100%!
Posted on 09-Sep-06 at 2:19 am | Permalink