MOU AND MADA (もう / まだ)

MOU (もう) and MADA (まだ) share the particularity of having a different meaning depending on whether the sentence is affirmative or negative.

MOU (もう)

First of all, もう means “already” in an affirmative sentence. The action is finished or the state was achieved as we speak.

With もう, the verb is often conjugated in the past tense, since the action is already over as we speak. Be careful not to confuse もう and the structure “Verb (form -TA) + KOTO + GA + ARU,” which expresses experience (have already done/lived through something). Here’s an explicit example of this difference:

Here, we’re talking about a completed action, not an experience. Asking if someone has already had the experience of eating doesn’t make sense. Of course, asking someone if they have already had the experience of eating sushi, for example, is possible.

In a negative sentence, もう means “no longer” or “not anymore.” The action is also over and no longer exists.

Be careful, however: when もう is used with counters or words of quantity, it means “again,” etc.

MADA (まだ)

Then there is まだ, which means “still” in an affirmative sentence. The action or state continues, even now; it’s projected toward the future.

Literally: In my case, still some time exists.

However, まだ means “not yet” when the sentence is negative. This time, the action or state doesn’t exist in the present, but should occur in the near future.

1

Posted on Aug 16, 2015, 5:33:24 PM	#3
FrozZenSenpai Yes, it's the progressive form of 食べる. So 食べている means "eating (at the moment)" and the negative form of いる is いない. So 食べていない simply means "not eating (at the moment)".

Posted on Apr 24, 2012, 8:22:04 AM	#2
Element It means "the state of beaing eating" hasn't occured yet.

Posted on Apr 23, 2012, 10:47:50 PM	#1
Clinch In the sentence "まだ食べていないから、レストランに行こう！," what does "食べていない" literally mean? "食べている" means "to be eating," so does "食べていない" mean "to not be eating"?

1