まだ (mada) Meaning Japanese Grammar - Still

The adverb まだ (mada) means still or not yet, depending on whether the sentence in which it is used is affirmative or negative.

The literal meaning of まだ is to indicate something that is unexpectedly still going on, something that is still in the state it was in before.

This meaning explains the reason for the two translations of まだ, as we go into more detail below.

In this post we learn more about the meaning of まだ, how it is formed, and when まだ is used through real example sentences.

How まだ is formed

まだ is an adverb and as such is used to modify verbs and adjectives in a sentence.

There are no specific rules that indicate where an adverb should be placed in a sentence.

Nonetheless, it is common to find adverbs at the beginning of the sentence (although not necessary). まだ modifies affirmative verbs in the ている form (translated as still) or negative verbs (translated as not yet):

まだ is the opposite of もう, which expresses something that ended unexpectedly.

まだ: "still"

As mentioned previously, when まだ is used in an affirmative sentence its meaning becomes still: something that is currently still in the state it was in before.

The verb is in the ている form, which is used in Japanese to indicate an ongoing action (still).

In this simple example we see how まだ is at the beginning of the sentence and indicates that the rain (雨(あめ)) is still falling (降(ふ)っている).

まだ: "not yet"

When instead まだ is used in a sentence in the negative (verb in the ない form) its meaning becomes not yet: something that is not currently in the state it was expected to be.

The example uses the verb to return (home) (帰(かえ)る) in the negative form 帰(かえ)らない:

Since the verb is in the negative form, まだ translates as not yet.

まだ~ていない

The negative verb is often conjugated in the form ていない (or ていません in the polite form). Using the て form, this expression indicates something that is still in the state of not being.

The form まだ~ていない is generally used to indicate something that hasn't been done yet.

Special expressions with まだ

There are some particular expressions that use the adverb まだ. One of them is まだまだ (まだ repeated 2 times in a row). This expression is used to emphasize the fact that it is not yet or that it is still:

Let's hear まだ used as noun and followed by the particle の, in an expression of common use: まだの方(かた)は.

チャンネル登(とう)録(ろく)がまだの方(かた)は literally means: "people who haven't subscribed to the channel yet".

Examples of まだ