まだmada“still or not yet”

まだ means still in positive sentences and not yet in negative ones. It is a JLPT N5 adverb that describes a situation from the point of view of “now”: something is continuing, or something hasn’t happened yet.

The trick is that one Japanese word covers two English words. まだ時間があります is “there is still time.” まだ食べていません is “I haven’t eaten yet.” What decides the translation is the verb at the end of the sentence, not まだ itself.

まだ = the change you expected hasn't arrived. Positive verb → "still." Negative verb → "not yet."

What does まだ mean?

Think of まだ as “the situation hasn’t changed yet.” Something is still in its old state, and a change is expected at some point.

• まだ雨が降っています — it’s still raining (it will stop eventually)
• 彼はまだ学生です — he’s still a student (he’ll graduate at some point)
• 宿題はまだ終わっていません — my homework isn’t finished yet (it will be)

In every case, the speaker expects a change: the rain to stop, graduation, the homework to be done. まだ says “not at that point yet.” That shared idea is why one word can mean both “still” and “not yet.”

まだ can also stand alone as an answer. もう食べましたか — いいえ、まだです (Have you eaten? — Not yet.) This short answer is extremely common, and you should learn it as a set phrase.

How to form まだ

まだ is an adverb, so it doesn’t conjugate. Place it before the verb, adjective, or noun phrase, usually near the start of the sentence or right after the topic.

The key detail: for “not yet” with an action, Japanese uses the ている form in the negative: 〜ていません. It describes a current state (“I am in a not-yet-eaten state”). The simple past negative 〜ませんでした means “I didn’t eat” about a finished period of time, and it does not combine with まだ. The dedicated page on まだ〜ていません goes deeper into this form.

When is まだ used?

• Answering “already?” questions. もう宿題をしましたか — いいえ、まだです。
• Saying something continues. まだ痛いです — it still hurts.
• Saying there’s time or quantity left. まだ10分あります — there are still ten minutes left. まだ三時です — it’s only three o’clock (we have time).
• Humble replies to praise. When someone says 日本語が上手ですね, a common reply is いいえ、まだまだです — “No, I still have a long way to go.”

まだ is neutral. It works the same way in casual speech (まだ食べてない), polite speech (まだ食べていません), and writing.

まだ example sentences

In the example with 四月, the speaker expected warm weather by April. まだ carries that expectation: it should have changed by now, but it hasn’t.

Nuance of まだ

まだ always measures a situation against an expected change. That gives it a small emotional color depending on context:

• Relief: まだ時間がある — good, there’s still time.
• Impatience: バスはまだ来ない — the bus still isn’t here (and I’m tired of waiting).
• Surprise: まだ起きているの? — you’re still up?

The emotion comes from the context, not from まだ alone. But you will notice that sentences with まだ rarely sound completely flat, because they compare “now” with “later.”

💡 Tip: まだ (mada) and また (mata, "again") differ by one sound. また会いましょう = let's meet again. まだ会っていません = I haven't met them yet. Listen for the voiced "d."

まだ vs もう

まだ and もう are two ends of the same timeline, and JLPT questions love to put them side by side.

Set them up as four boxes: まだ + positive = still; まだ + negative = not yet; もう + positive = already; もう + negative = not anymore. For example, まだ好きです (I still like it) vs もう好きじゃありません (I don’t like it anymore). In a question-and-answer pair, the question usually uses もう and a “no” answer uses まだ: もう来ましたか — いいえ、まだです.

Common mistakes with まだ

Is まだ on the JLPT?

A common grammar item gives 「しゅくだいは　まだ（　）。」 with choices like しました / しませんでした / していません. Only していません works with まだ.

Practice questions for まだ

Learning path for まだ

Related grammar to review next

• もう — the other half of the timeline: “already” and “not anymore.”
• まだ〜ていません — the full “not yet” construction, with more on why ていません is required.
• ている — the form behind “still doing” (まだ降っています) and “not yet done.”
• まで — marks the end point of a time span, so you can say how much time is still left.

Learn まだ with Hane

Hane’s quick drills pair まだ and もう in short question-and-answer exchanges, so you stop reaching for ませんでした after まだ. Try it in Hane.