The negative of 〜ている is 〜ていない, and it hides a meaning English speakers get wrong more often than almost any other point at this level. Your instinct will be to read 食べていない as "am not eating." Sometimes it is — but far more often, especially with まだ ("still / yet"), it means "haven't eaten yet." That is the English present perfect negative, not the present progressive negative. Getting this wrong is why a learner who has genuinely not yet had lunch ends up saying something that means "I skipped lunch entirely."
まだ昼ご飯を食べていない。
mada hirugohan o tabete inai
I haven't had lunch yet.
田中さんはまだ来ていません。
Tanaka-san wa mada kite imasen
Mr. Tanaka hasn't arrived yet.
The two readings, and which one dominates
Just as positive 〜ている has two jobs — action in progress (食べている "is eating") and resulting state (開いている "is open") — the negative 〜ていない has a matching pair. But the balance is different. In everyday speech the "not yet happened" reading is the workhorse:
- Progressive negative — "am not doing (right now)": 走っていない "isn't running." This shows up, but it usually needs a clear here-and-now context.
- Perfect negative — "has not (yet) happened": 食べていない "haven't eaten (yet)." This is the default, and adding まだ locks it in.
The logic is worth internalizing. 〜ている says an event has occurred and its effect is still present; 〜ていない simply negates that — the event has not occurred, so its effect is absent, and the door is still open for it to happen. That "still could happen" flavor is exactly what English packs into the little word yet.
まだ + 〜ていない: the standard "not yet" frame
The single most useful pattern on this page is まだ〜ていない. まだ means "still / (not) yet," and it pins 〜ていない to the perfect reading. It is the natural answer whenever something was expected to happen and simply hasn't happened so far.
宿題をまだやっていない。
shukudai o mada yatte inai
I haven't done the homework yet.
その映画はまだ見ていないんだ。
sono eiga wa mada mite inai n da
I haven't seen that movie yet.
レポートをまだ書いていません。
repōto o mada kaite imasen
I haven't written the report yet.
薬をまだ飲んでいないなら、今飲んでね。
kusuri o mada nonde inai nara, ima nonde ne
If you haven't taken your medicine yet, take it now.
Notice the paired positive: "already done" is もう〜た, and its natural opposite is まだ〜ていない. English does the same dance with already / yet — "I've already eaten" vs "I haven't eaten yet."
もう晩ご飯食べた？ ううん、まだ食べていない。
mō bangohan tabeta? uun, mada tabete inai
Have you had dinner yet? No, not yet.
Why it is not 〜なかった
Here is the core contrast, and the reason English speakers stumble. Both 食べていない and 食べなかった can be translated with an English negative, but they are not interchangeable:
- まだ食べていない = "haven't eaten yet." The action is pending. It didn't happen up to now, but it still might — the door is open.
- 食べなかった = "didn't eat." The action is a closed, finished non-event. You are reporting, in the past, that eating did not take place — and it isn't going to be revisited.
朝、時間がなくて、何も食べなかった。
asa, jikan ga nakute, nani mo tabenakatta
This morning I had no time, so I didn't eat anything. (closed — the morning is over)
まだ何も食べていないから、お腹がぺこぺこだ。
mada nani mo tabete inai kara, onaka ga pekopeko da
I haven't eaten anything yet, so I'm starving. (still pending — I'm about to)
Same two words in English ("didn't eat" / "haven't eaten"), two completely different Japanese verbs. The choice between them is the choice between "it didn't happen" and "it hasn't happened yet" — precisely the distinction English marks with yet.
The classic error: answering with 〜なかった
Picture the most ordinary exchange. Someone asks もう食べた？ ("Have you eaten yet?"). You haven't. The English-speaker reflex — "eat" is the verb, it's about the past, negate it — produces 食べなかった. To a Japanese listener that answer means "I didn't eat (I went without)." It sounds like you made a decision to skip the meal, not that lunch is still ahead of you.
もうお昼食べた？ ううん、まだ食べていない。これから食べる。
mō ohiru tabeta? uun, mada tabete inai. kore kara taberu
Have you had lunch yet? — No, not yet. I'm about to.
The correct "not yet" answers are all built on 〜ていない — or its ultra-short spoken forms まだ or まだです:
会議の資料、もう読みましたか。 いいえ、まだ読んでいません。
kaigi no shiryō, mō yomimashita ka. iie, mada yonde imasen
Have you read the meeting materials yet? — No, I haven't read them yet. (polite)
Polite, plain, and casual forms
Because 〜ていない is just 〜ている with いる made negative, the whole ladder of politeness carries straight over. You conjugate the いる end:
| Register | Form | Example (食べる) |
|---|---|---|
| Plain (informal) | 〜ていない | まだ食べていない |
| Polite (formal) | 〜ていません | まだ食べていません |
| Casual, spoken (informal) | 〜てない | まだ食べてない |
That last row — 食べてない, dropping the い of いる — is the everyday spoken shape you will actually hear; it is covered in full on 〜てる: the casual contraction. It means exactly the same thing as 食べていない, only more relaxed.
ごめん、メールまだ返してない。
gomen, mēru mada kaeshite nai
Sorry, I haven't replied to your email yet. (casual)
彼はまだ決めていません。
kare wa mada kimete imasen
He hasn't decided yet. (polite)
A note on change-of-state verbs
With verbs of change — 来る (come), 着く (arrive), 起きる (get up), 決まる (be decided) — 〜ている names the resulting state, so 〜ていない cleanly means the state hasn't been reached: まだ来ていない = "hasn't come (and so isn't here) yet," まだ決まっていない = "hasn't been decided yet." There is no separate "am not coming" trap here; the perfect reading is essentially the only one.
バスがまだ来ていないから、もう少し待とう。
basu ga mada kite inai kara, mō sukoshi matō
The bus hasn't come yet, so let's wait a little longer.
開催地はまだ決まっていない。
kaisaichi wa mada kimatte inai
The venue hasn't been decided yet.
Common mistakes
❌ もう食べた？ ううん、食べなかった。
Incorrect for 'not yet' — 食べなかった means 'I didn't eat (I skipped it),' a closed past event.
✅ もう食べた？ ううん、まだ食べていない。
mō tabeta? uun, mada tabete inai
Have you eaten yet? No, not yet.
❌ 私はまだ宿題をしなかった。
Incorrect — しなかった says the homework-doing didn't happen and is finished; it drops the 'yet / still pending' sense.
✅ 私はまだ宿題をしていない。
watashi wa mada shukudai o shite inai
I haven't done my homework yet.
❌ バスがまだ来なかった。
Incorrect for a bus you're still waiting on — 来なかった reports that it didn't come (e.g. that day), closing the door.
✅ バスがまだ来ていない。
basu ga mada kite inai
The bus hasn't come yet.
❌ その本をまだ読んでいなかった。
Usually wrong for the present — 読んでいなかった is the PAST 'hadn't yet read it (at that earlier time)'; for right now use the non-past 読んでいない.
✅ その本をまだ読んでいない。
sono hon o mada yonde inai
I haven't read that book yet.
The thread running through all four is the same: English "have not / didn't" collapses two Japanese options, and the reflex to reach for the plain past 〜なかった throws away the "still pending" meaning. When the natural English is "…yet," the Japanese is まだ〜ていない.
Key takeaways
- 〜ていない's dominant meaning is "has not (yet) happened," the English present-perfect negative — not "am not doing."
- まだ〜ていない is the standard "not yet" frame; its positive twin is もう〜た ("already done").
- 〜なかった closes the door ("it didn't happen, finished"); 〜ていない keeps it open ("it hasn't happened yet, but might"). If you'd say yet in English, use 〜ていない.
- The natural answer to もう〜た？／もう〜ましたか is まだ〜ていない／まだ〜ていません, never 〜なかった.
- Casual speech drops the い: まだ食べてない = まだ食べていない.
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- 〜ている: Resultant State 'Has Done & Remains'N4 — The resultant-state 〜ている for change-of-state verbs — 結婚している 'is married,' 死んでいる 'is dead,' 窓が開いている 'is open' — where the action already finished and its result still holds now.
- 〜ている vs 〜た: Result State vs EventN3 — Why the English present perfect splits into two Japanese forms — 〜た for the completed event, 〜ている for the standing result — so 結婚した 'got married' and 結婚している 'am married' are not interchangeable.
- 〜ている: The Two-Meaning Aspect MarkerN4 — 〜ている carries two meanings — the progressive 'is doing' and the resultant state 'has done and remains' — and the verb's own aktionsart, not the speaker, decides which one you get.