もう vs まだ – Difference between Mou and Mada
You can use もう and まだ with verbs to express time easily in Japanese. You can translate もう as already and まだ as still in Japanese.
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Then Difference between もう vs まだ
もう means something that has already happened or is already ready to happen when used with a verb. まだ means something that still has not happened yet or still has not finished yet. This will make more sense when you see some examples with different verbs. So, in the following examples we will be comparing もう and まだ when used with various verb forms.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/About to go Home and Still not coming Home yet
First, let’s look at then difference between the two phrases below.
- もう帰る – to be about to or ready to go back home
- まだ帰らない – to have not come back home yet
So, let’s look at some examples.
お母さんは帰らないよ
mom is not coming back home
If you add まだ to this the meaning changes a bit.
お母さんはまだ帰らないよ
mom is not coming back home yet
mom has not come back home yet
Now, let’s see what happens when we swap まだ for もう.
お母さんがもう帰るよ
mom is about to go back home (the speaker is not at mom’s house)
mom is about to be back home (the speaker is at mom’s house)
Since もう means already, it is like you are saying mom is already on her way or that she is already going to be here any moment.
もう食べない vs まだ食べる To still eat and to not eat anymore
Now, let’s look at some more examples.
- まだ食べる – to still eat
- もう食べない – to not eat anymore
Let’s say you are getting full after eating a plate of food. You are not ready to stop yet though and say まだ食べる. This means I am still going to eat, or I am not done eating yet. If you were full, the opposite would be, もう食べない or I am not eating anymore.
もう来ている and まだ来ていない means to be here and to not be here yet
もう来ている means to come already and to be here. So, for example, if you were expecting visitors soon but they had come already without you realizing. Here you could say もう来た but that would suggest that your visitor just got here. The opposite of もう来ている is まだ来ていない. This simply means, to not have come yet.
Let’s look at another example. The word 着く means to arrive. If you wanted to say that someone arrived already you would say もう着いている. If you wanted to say that they have not arrived yet it would be まだ着いていない.
More about Japanese verbs
As you now know, the meaning of もう and まだ change based on the form of the verb in a sentence. Japanese is based on something called the grammatical aspect. If you want to know more, this will help you understand better how もう and まだ with verbs change the meaning. You can read more here.
If you want to learn more Japanese I reviewed a dictionary of grammar series which I personally recommend and use myself.
