Español en serio

Todavía vs. Ya: when to use each one in Spanish

Dieser Beitrag erklärt ein wichtiges Thema der spanischen Grammatik (Text auf Englisch).

Little words, big confusion

Even advanced students struggle with these adverbs, mainly because many explanations are incomplete or not fully accurate. For this reason, I will publish a series of four short blogs to work on them step by step. After this first post, you will find:

• the negative forms (todavía no vs. ya no)
• the form aún, which also means todavía
• the form aun, which is something entirely different
• and finally, all the meanings of the innocent, short and tricky ya

Let’s start with the basics.

When should I use one or the other?

👉 Ya: it has multiple meanings which will be covered in another blog. At a basic level, it is used to say that an action has already been completed, so it is translated as already:

Ya entendí este tema. I have already understood this topic.

👉 Todavía: this adverb is much easier, because it is basically still, yet. We use it to say that something is still happening:

Este tema todavía me cuesta. This topic is still hard for me.

It is very useful to know the origin of the words, something that we call etymologies. Todavía comes from the Latin words tota via, meaning ‘along the road’. Have you heard about la ‘Vía Appia’, one of the most important ancient Roman roads? Well, here it is! So, when we say something like “este tema todavía me cuesta”, it means that “I am still on the road of understanding or learning”.

Example from the episode

Read the full episode here →

Episode 15