まだ — Still, Not Yet

Meaning & Usage

まだ does one job with two faces. Pair it with an affirmative verb or adjective and it means "still" — the action or state is ongoing. Pair it with a negative and it means "not yet" — the action is pending but expected. That single rule — affirmative or negative — determines everything.

With an affirmative verb or adjective, まだ signals that something started in the past and is still true now. まだ雨あめが降ふっています means "It is still raining" — the rain that started earlier hasn't stopped.

Switch to a negative verb or adjective, and まだ shifts to "not yet." The action hasn't happened, but it's implied that it will. まだ食たべていません: the speaker hasn't eaten yet, but eating is expected.

English speakers tend to find まだ intuitive. "I'm still waiting" and "I haven't finished yet" — Japanese handles both with a single word. The underlying logic maps closely to English; only the word changes.

まだ works across every register — friends talking, business emails, formal documents. Formality is set by the verb ending (です／ます for polite, plain form for casual). まだ itself never changes.

Think of まだ as pointing to a gap between the current situation and the expected one. Something is either still happening or still waiting to start. Either way, the expected change hasn't arrived.

Structure & Formation

まだ sits before the verb, adjective, or predicate it modifies. As an adverb, it never conjugates — same form in every tense and register.

For "not yet" with action verbs, ～ていません is usually more natural than a plain ～ません. The ～ている form captures a resultant state — the state of having done something. まだ + ～ていません says that resultant state hasn't been reached yet. まだ食べていません isn't just "I don't eat" — it's "the state of having-eaten doesn't exist yet."

That said, まだ + plain negative (～ません or ～ない) is also correct and commonly used, especially for habitual actions or simple present negatives.

Example Sentences

Basic Affirmative — Still Doing Something

Basic Affirmative — Still in a State

Not Yet — Incomplete Action

Not Yet — Short Answers

Everyday Conversational Use

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Confusing まだ with もう

❌ もう食たべていません。(when you mean "I haven't eaten yet")

✅ まだ食たべていません。

もう means "already" in affirmative sentences and "no longer" in negative ones. もう食たべていません means "I no longer eat" — a completely different situation from "I haven't eaten yet." Beginners mix these up regularly. The rule: まだ + negative = not yet; もう + negative = no longer.

Mistake 2: Using まだ without a negative when meaning "not yet"

❌ まだ宿題しゅくだいをします。(attempting to say "I haven't done my homework yet")

✅ まだ宿題しゅくだいをしていません。

For "not yet," まだ must pair with a negative verb. The affirmative version above actually means "I'm still going to do my homework" — close to the opposite of what's intended. Keep まだ and a negative verb ending (～ません or ～ていません) locked together when "not yet" is the meaning.

Mistake 3: Forgetting the ～ている form for completed action contexts

❌ まだ映画えいがを見みません。(for "I haven't seen the movie yet")

✅ まだ映画えいがを見みていません。

まだ～ません is grammatically valid, but for actions framed as completions — watching a specific movie, finishing a report — ～ていません is more natural. The ～ている form focuses on resultant state: the state of having-seen or not-having-seen. まだ～ていません captures that nuance precisely.

Mistake 4: Placing まだ in the wrong position

❌ 宿題しゅくだいをまだしていません。(unnatural word order)

✅ まだ宿題しゅくだいをしていません。

Japanese word order is flexible, but slipping まだ between the object and the verb sounds off to native speakers. Default rule: place まだ right after the topic or subject marker は or が, or at the very start of the sentence when no topic is stated.

Mistake 5: Using まだ with a completed past action

❌ まだ昨日きのう宿題しゅくだいをしました。

✅ まだ宿題しゅくだいをしていません。

まだ describes situations that are ongoing or pending. Pairing it with a past-tense completed action is a logic problem, not just a grammar one — "I still did my homework yesterday" doesn't work in any language. Use まだ only when the situation is still in progress or still waiting to happen.

Cultural Notes

まだ runs through daily Japanese conversation. Checking on someone's progress, following up when you're waiting — 「まだですか？」(Not yet? / Still not here?) is natural and completely unselfconscious.

「まだです」on its own is a perfectly polite reply — direct, never rude. In more formal contexts, add a brief explanation: 「まだです。もう少し待まってください。」(Not yet. Please wait a little longer.)

Doubled to まだまだ (mada mada), the word takes on a stronger edge: "still a long way to go" or "not even close." 「まだまだですね」from a senior to a junior lands as "You've got a long way to go" — encouraging when said warmly, pointed when said coldly. It comes up regularly in sports, martial arts, and skill-learning contexts.

In formal writing, まだ appears just as naturally. A business email might read: 「確認かくにんはまだ完了かんりょうしていません。」(The confirmation has not been completed yet.) Register is set by the surrounding vocabulary and verb endings — まだ stays constant.

Related Grammar Points

• もう — Already, Not Anymore, One More (Grammar N5)
• いつ — When: Complete Guide to Asking About Time in Japanese (Grammar N5)
• あまり — Not Very (+ Negative) (Grammar N5)
• Na-Adjective (な形容詞) — Complete Usage Guide (Grammar N5)
• に (ni) — Direction, Time, and Location Particle (Grammar N5)
• が — Subject Marker (Grammar N5)

JLPT Tips

At N5, まだ shows up in both listening and grammar sections. Dialogues often feature one speaker checking on a task and the other replying with まだ or もう. Train yourself to catch which word appears and what verb form follows it.

The まだ vs もう contrast is the central test point. A typical format gives a short situation — "Has Tanaka arrived?" — and asks you to pick from sentences mixing まだ and もう with affirmative or negative verbs. The rule is non-negotiable: まだ + negative = not yet; もう + affirmative = already.

Watch the verb form that follows まだ. Fill-in-the-blank questions often target exactly this. まだ + ～ていません is the combination tested most often for "not yet" with an action verb.

For writing and speaking tasks, まだです works fine as a short answer. Build fluency with both full patterns: まだ～ています (still doing) and まだ～ていません (not done yet). Switching between them cleanly is the core N5 skill.

まだ never changes form — no conjugation, no polite variant, no te-form. Mechanically, it's one of the simplest items at this level. The real challenge is the logic: which sentence type to pair it with, and how it differs from もう.