Adverbs of time ya, todavía, and aún are extremely common in Spanish and they usually cause a certain amount of confusion among Spanish students.
Let´s remember that although these words can usually be translated from Spanish to English without a problem, there will be certain cases in which the translations will not match word by word due to the nature of the languages, regional dialects, and the emphasis the speaker wants to make in a sentence, remember that many times there are no absolutes in languages and the same word will convey a different meaning in different situations.
Before we keep analyzing these three words we can first say that “todavía” and “aún” will be used in the same manner and in most cases they will be interchangeable unlike “ya”.
Another tip to help us understand how to use these words is to remember that they are adverbs and as such, they are giving us extra information about how an action is done, in this case, they give us a more detailed view of when the action was made, specifically if it was actually finalized: “ya” or not:”aún” “todavía”
“Ya” could be translated as: already, now, anymore, no longer + others
Let´s see some examples below.
Ya + pretérito perfecto / Ya + pretérito indefinido: indicates that the action was finalized.
Ejemplos:
¿Ya comiste? = Did you eat already?
Ya he ido al baño = I´ve already gone to the bathroom
Ya hemos visitado las cascadas = We have already visited the waterfalls
Ya termino el mundial = Already the world cup is over
El mundial ya termino = The world cup is already over
El mundial termino ya = The world cup is over already
¿Ya entendiste?
As you saw, “ya” is very flexible and can be placed in different positions in a sentence depending on what the speaker wants to emphasize, usually, if it is placed at the beginning of a sentence we are giving it more importance since it will be the first thing the listener will hear.
¡Ya hazlo! = Do it already!
¡Ya dime! = tell me already!
¿Ya fuiste? = did you go already?
Read: A quick guide to master, bien, bueno and buen
Ya + present: indicates that you weren´t able to do something before but NOW you can.
It translates to already/now or other variations
Ya voy: I go now/I am going/I am on my way (before I couldn´t)
Ya puedo hacerlo: I can do it now/I am able to do it (before I couldn´t)
Marta ya está aquí = Marta is already here (before she wasn´t)
Puedes ir ya = you can go now (before you couldn´t)
Podemos salir ya = We can go out now (before we couldn´t)
Ya +no+ present: indicates that you no longer do the action
Ya no bebo = I don´t drink any more
Ya no puedo ir al baile = I can no longer go to the dance
Ya no me gusta la carne = I don´t like meat anymore
Exercise
How would you write the following sentence in Spanish:
I can already speak a lot of Spanish = …
I already went there = …
You told me that already = …
He already did his work = …
Read: Free and simple guide Por and Para
Aún, todavía: indicates that the action has not been finalized. It is translated as still/yet in English
*Aun without a graphic accent means “although” or “even though”
¿Todavía no está claro?
Ejemplos:
Aún no he ido al baño = I still haven´t been to the bathroom / I haven´t been to the bathroom yet
¿Aún no llega José? or ¿Todavía no llega José? = José has not arrived yet? / José still has not arrived?
Aún no sé = I still don´t know / I don´t know yet
¿Ya sabías eso? = Did you already know that?
How would you write the following sentences in Spanish:
Micheal hasn´t arrived yet = …
We are still waiting for confirmation = …
My family is still traveling = …
My brother is still studying = …
Jennifer hasn´t finished yet = …
That is it for now, we hope this post has been useful for you, and now you know a bit more about how and when to use these very helpful words in Spanish.
