Let’s see today two adverbs of time. In the first place, we have “todavía”, which has a clear meaning. In the second place, we have “ya”, which is a little more complicated.
TODAVÍA:
It is translated as “still, yet”. It is an adverb of time which means “up to this moment”, so we talk about an action that is in progress. In fact, it comes from the latin word for “way”, which is “via”. Have you heard about the Via Apia? It was the most important road to Rome in the old times. So, “todavía” literally means that everything is on the road, or on its way. We use it for something which didn’t finish:
‘Todavía estoy pensando en eso’ (I am still thinking about it)
‘No he decidido todavía’ (I haven’t decided yet)
We can also use “aún” as a synonym: “aún estoy pensando en eso” or “aún no he decidido”.
YA:
Are you ready for some action? Because this tiny word has many different meanings and we use it all the time. So pay attention!
-In the first place, it is the opposite to “todavía”, because “ya” means that something happened and it is finished. It would be “already”:
‘Ya he terminado’ (I have already finished)
‘Ya no vivo más con mis padres’ (I no longer live with my parents)
-In the second place, it means “at this very moment”. We can also say “ahora mismo” (right now). When we want to be more emphatic, we say “ya mismo”:
‘Hazlo ya’ (Do it right now)
‘Ya me voy’ (I leave right now)
‘Lo necesito ya mismo’ (I need it right now)
-In the third place, when we say “ya hablaremos” (we will speak later), nothing has happened yet. We can also say: “hablaremos luego/más tarde/después”.
‘Ya hablaremos mañana’ (We will speak tomorrow)
So, we can use this adverb with all the tenses:
‘Ya ha llegado’ (He has arrived, past tense)
‘Ya llega’ (He is arriving now, present tense)
‘Ya va a llegar’ (He will arrive soon, future tense)
-In the fourth place, we have some forms to say “of course”: “por supuesto, claro, desde luego, desde ya”.
-‘¿Quieres ir al cine?’ (Do you want to go to the cinema?)
– ‘Por supuesto/claro/desde luego/desde ya’ (Of course)
-In the fifth place, we use “ya que” to express the cause of something, it is an alternative form of “porque”:
‘Ya que no funciona el horno, tendremos que encargar comida’
(Since the oven doesn’t work, we’ll have to order some food)
We can also say: ‘Tendremos que encargar comida porque no funciona el horno’.
I suggest you to take the first case and to use it talking for two or three days. After that, go with the second case, and so on. It will become second nature. Also, remember this:
Todavía no: not yet
Ya no: not anymore
And that’s it! ¡Ya está!
