Hey there, this is Teacher ola podcast episode 16: Yet and already.
My name’s Ola and I teach English online through one to one lessons on Skype.
This podcast is for you if you’re an English learner who wants to speak with more confidence and get rid of speaking barriers. You’ll boost your vocabulary, brush up your grammar, improve your pronunciation. Go to my website for full transcripts and worksheets to each episode. Happy learning!
Hello again! Thank you for being here, it’s great you found some time for yourself and thank you for choosing to spend it with me. Wow, thanks for your trust!
Ok, grammar today. ‘Yet’ and ‘already’.
My aim here is to exhaust the topic. In grammar books ‘yet’ and ‘already’ are usually put together with ‘just’, ‘still’, ‘ever’, ‘never’, ‘so far’, and I see why of course I understand the reasons. Nevertheless, I see students struggle with these two words: ‘yet’ and ‘already’. I want to focus entirely on these two beauties.
I want you to get it once and for all, so that, you don’t have to search for any information around these words again. Since my biggest aim here is to help you start speaking and get rid of your blockade, I’ve prepared a whole list of sentences for repeating, so please do. Let’s begin! It’s gotta be quick. Short and sweet.
Let’s start with yet.
Use yet in negative sentences and in questions. Yet goes at the end of the sentence.
Repeat after me:
- He hasn’t arrived yet.
- She hasn’t read it yet.
- They haven’t had a chance to try that yet.
- We haven’t been there yet.
- Have you decided yet?
- Are they here yet?
- Have you finished yet?
- Have they met him yet?
In all negative sentences, you’ve just heard ‘yet’ means ‘until now’. I’m expecting something to happen or be true. Like in: He hasn’t arrived yet. I’m expecting him to arrive, but he hasn’t arrived until now. Questions might sound a bit weird to you. You might be tempted to say: Are they here already? But that’s not correct. Have they arrived yet? Have you subscribed yet? Use ‘yet’ for negations and questions.
As you probably noticed, yet appears in the present perfect tense, it’s not obligatory though. Present simple is also suitable, it depends on the context. For example, I don’t know yet.
Let’s move on to already.
Use ‘already’ in affirmative sentences. Repeat after me:
- I’ve already left.
- We’ve already done our homework.
- He’s already tired.
In the examples above you could hear the word ‘already’ meaning ‘sooner than expected’. We typically put ‘already’ in the middle of the sentence. Still, it can go at the end as well. For example:
- I’d decided already, you don’t have to remind me.
This shows greater surprise or just emphasises the mesage, the fact.
We can also use ‘already’ in questions. Are you confused? Hey, that doesn’t make sense, you’ve promised it’s only for affirmative sentences! I know! It’s not a normal question though. Like the question with ‘yet’. With ‘yet’ i’s just a regular. Honest question and the person asking it doesn’t know if the thing has occurred yet or we’re still expecting it to occur. It’s a pure question, like:
- Have you found the book yet?
It’s just a question. Questions with ‘already’ are more tricky. The person asking a question with ‘already’ knows the answer. It’s not an honest, pure question. Why use it than? To express surprise, something happened sooner than I expected. Listen and repeat the example sentence:
- Have you already eaten?
- Have you eaten already?
Well, in both examples I can clearly see he has eaten, but it strikes me. I didn’t expect him to be so fast. In the second example was more surprised that the first, listen again: ‘Have you already eaten?’ You’re really fast! In the second one, it was: ‘Have you eaten already?!’. Wow, you must have been starving! Let’s practice some more:
- Are you here already?
- Are you here yet?
Can you feel the difference? In ‘are you here yet’ I just don’t know. I’m at the mall, I’m calling you and asking ‘are you here yet?’. In the second example ‘ae you here already’ I’m surprised. I didn’t expect you to arrive that early, before all the other guests.
One last thing, I promise, about questions with already’. Sometimes the person asking a question doesn’t KNOW the answer, but they are guessing it. They suppose they know, but want to make sure. It might sound like this:
- Have you already done your homework?
In this case, we never put ‘already’ at the end, it’s in the middle position, that is before the main verb. Already done. Listen and repeat, focus on the difference:
- Have you already talked to her?
- Have you talked to her yet?
Ok, here you have it. ‘Yet’ and ‘already’ fully explained, and practised through repetition, well done! Now it’s time to practice even more! So, go ahead, download the worksheet, it’s waiting for you at teacherola.com/16. You’ll also find a transcript there.
Now, a quick task for you: Translate into English, and put in the comments:
Jeszcze nigdy nie widziałam tak pięknego widoku. Jeszcze nigdy nie widziałam tak pięknego widoku. Translate into English, and put in the comment section.
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Thank you for being here with me, for taking some time for yourself. Be here next Wednesday, because I’ll tell you a thing or two about making mistakes in English. I know many of you feel terrified when it comes to speaking, because of the fear of mistakes. Please, come here, tune in next Wednesday. Till then, have a great week. Happy learning! Bye-bye.