The adverbs ya (already), todavía no (not yet), and aún no (not yet, more emphatic) pair so naturally with the present perfect in peninsular Spanish that the two are almost a single unit in spoken language. ¿Has comido ya? — Sí, ya he comido / No, todavía no he comido. That single exchange, in slight variations, surfaces dozens of times a day in Spain: in kitchens, in offices, at family dinners, in WhatsApp messages.
This page covers the everyday placement rules, the aun / aún accent that learners almost always get wrong, the difference between todavía and aún, and the question forms you'll need to produce automatically.
What each adverb does
- ya — already, by now. Signals that something has happened (sooner than expected, or in good time, or finally). Ya he terminado = I've already finished / I've finished by now.
- todavía no — not yet. Signals that something hasn't happened but is still expected. Todavía no he comido = I haven't eaten yet (but I will).
- aún no — not yet, slightly more emphatic or formal than todavía no. Aún no he comido = same meaning, slightly heavier weight.
- ya no — no longer, not anymore (a different construction; covered separately below). Ya no fumo = I don't smoke anymore.
The cleanest mental model: ya and todavía no are opposite sides of the same expectation. Both presuppose that the listener expects or anticipates the action. Ya says "yes, it's happened"; todavía no says "no, but it's still expected."
Placement of ya
Ya is unusually flexible — it can sit before the auxiliary, after the participle, or (rarely) sentence-initially. The three positions are not interchangeable in nuance, though all three are correct.
Before the auxiliary — the default position in affirmative statements:
Ya he terminado el informe — te lo paso por email.
I've already finished the report — I'll send it over by email.
After the participle — used in questions and in answers where ya is the focus of the sentence:
¿Habéis comido ya o esperamos a Marta?
Have you (all) eaten already or shall we wait for Marta?
He llegado ya, estoy en la puerta.
I've already arrived, I'm at the door.
Sentence-initially — rare, slightly emphatic, often with a flat or resigned tone:
Ya, ya he visto el mensaje — voy a contestarle.
Yeah, yeah, I've seen the message — I'm going to reply.
The position to avoid: between haber and the participle. ⁕He ya terminado is the construction that sounds awkward to native speakers and that grammars flag. Keep ya either before he/has/ha or after the participle.
Placement of todavía no and aún no
Todavía no and aún no are tighter — they almost always sit before the whole verb phrase, with no hugging the auxiliary.
Todavía no he comido — ¿quedan croquetas?
I haven't eaten yet — are there any croquettes left?
Aún no he hablado con el jefe sobre lo del horario.
I haven't yet talked to the boss about the schedule thing.
Todavía no hemos decidido a dónde vamos en verano.
We haven't decided where we're going in summer yet.
The order is: todavía/aún + no + haber + participle, locked together. You can in principle move todavía to the end (No he comido todavía) and it sounds fine — slightly more emphatic on the not yet — but the front position is the default.
What you can't do is split todavía no itself: ⁕todavía he no comido is ungrammatical. The pair travels as a unit.
The aun / aún accent trap
This is one of the most frequent diacritical errors learners make, and it matters because the accent changes the word.
- aún (with accent) = still, yet — equivalent to todavía. Aún no he comido = Todavía no he comido.
- aun (no accent) = even — equivalent to incluso. Aun así, no me convence = Even so, I'm not convinced.
The Real Academia rule, in plain terms: write aún with the accent when it means todavía (still / yet), and aun without when it means incluso (even). The two are pronounced slightly differently in careful speech — aún as two syllables [a-'un], aun as one [aun] — but in fast speech the distinction collapses, and the accent is the only reliable way to disambiguate them in writing.
Aún no he encontrado las llaves, llevo media hora buscándolas.
I still haven't found the keys, I've been looking for half an hour.
Aun habiéndolo intentado, no consiguió convencerla.
Even having tried, he didn't manage to convince her.
For the wider system of Spanish diacritical accents — the sí / si, tú / tu, él / el family — see pronunciation/diacritical-accents.
Ya vs ya no: a different word
Ya and ya no are not opposites in the way you might expect. Ya is positive (it has happened); ya no means no longer, not anymore — the action used to happen but has stopped.
Ya he dejado de fumar — llevo tres meses.
I've already given up smoking — it's been three months.
Ya no fumo, lo dejé en febrero.
I don't smoke anymore, I quit in February.
Note that ya no normally pairs with the present for ongoing states (ya no fumo, not ya no he fumado), because the speaker is describing a current state rather than a past completed action. Ya no he fumado would be very unusual.
The everyday question ¿Has...ya?
The single most useful pattern to drill is the question form. Peninsular Spanish uses ¿Has + participio + ya? or ¿Ya has + participio? constantly — for greetings, for nudges, for genuine information requests, for small talk.
¿Has desayunado ya? Hay café recién hecho.
Have you had breakfast yet? There's fresh coffee.
¿Habéis terminado ya o necesitáis más tiempo?
Have you (all) finished yet or do you need more time?
¿Ya ha llegado el cartero? Estoy esperando un paquete.
Has the postman arrived yet? I'm waiting for a package.
The answer pattern mirrors the question. Affirmative: Sí, ya he + participio. Negative: No, todavía no he + participio / No, aún no he + participio.
— ¿Has comido ya? — Sí, ya he comido, gracias.
— Have you eaten yet? — Yes, I've already eaten, thanks.
— ¿Habéis comprado las entradas? — No, todavía no las hemos comprado.
— Have you bought the tickets? — No, we haven't bought them yet.
Notice in the last example that the pronoun las sits before the auxiliary hemos, not between the auxiliary and the participle. The pronoun-placement rule is fixed regardless of whether todavía no is also present. For the full rule, see verbs/present-perfect/formation.
English mismatches
English speakers run into three predictable traps with this pattern.
1. "Already" in English allows the simple past; Spanish doesn't. English I already finished is perfectly fine; Spanish ⁕Ya terminé sounds Latin-American or off when the frame is hodiernal. In Spain, ya with a recent action almost always pairs with the perfect: ya he terminado.
2. "Yet" in English questions is at the end; ya is more flexible. English locks yet to sentence-final (Have you finished yet?). Spanish ya can be before, after, or initial. The English instinct to put ya at the end works (¿Has terminado ya?) but it's not the only natural placement.
3. "Not yet" in English is sentence-final; todavía no and aún no are sentence-initial. English I haven't finished yet puts yet at the end. Spanish prefers the front: Todavía no he terminado. Putting todavía at the end (No he terminado todavía) is grammatical but slightly heavier in emphasis.
No he comido todavía, espera cinco minutos.
I haven't eaten yet, wait five minutes.
Todavía no he comido, espera cinco minutos.
I haven't eaten yet, wait five minutes.
Both are correct; the first is slightly more emphatic on the not yet; the second is neutral and the more common default.
A natural exchange
— ¿Ya habéis decidido qué hacéis en verano? — No, todavía no hemos decidido nada. Aún no sabemos si nos dan las vacaciones a la vez. — Vale, decídmelo cuando lo sepáis.
— Have you (all) decided what you're doing in the summer yet? — No, we haven't decided anything yet. We still don't know if we'll get our holidays at the same time. — OK, let me know when you find out.
Every present perfect in that exchange pairs with one of the three adverbs — ya, todavía no, aún no — and the conversation feels completely natural to a peninsular ear. This is the pattern to drill.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ya terminé el informe.
Non-peninsular — ya with a recent/today action takes the perfect in Spain
✅ Ya he terminado el informe.
I've already finished the report.
The Latin-American instinct (ya terminé) is wrong in Spain for a hodiernal action. Ya + present perfect is the peninsular default.
❌ Aun no he comido.
Wrong spelling — aún with accent means 'still / yet'; aun without means 'even'
✅ Aún no he comido.
I haven't eaten yet.
The accent is not optional here. Aun no he comido literally parses as Even, I haven't eaten, which is nonsense. Write the accent.
❌ He ya terminado.
Awkward — ya doesn't sit between haber and the participle
✅ Ya he terminado. / He terminado ya.
I've already finished.
Adverbs go before the auxiliary or after the participle. The middle position is the one to avoid.
❌ Todavía he no comido.
Wrong order — todavía no travels as a unit before the verb phrase
✅ Todavía no he comido.
I haven't eaten yet.
Todavía and no are not separable. Together, they sit in front of he/has/ha + participio.
❌ Ya no he fumado.
Wrong tense — ya no for current states takes the present, not the perfect
✅ Ya no fumo. / Ya he dejado de fumar.
I don't smoke anymore. / I've quit smoking.
For the ongoing-state meaning of ya no, Spanish uses the present. The perfect would describe a past completed event, not a current habit.
Key takeaways
- ya (already), todavía no / aún no (not yet) are the high-frequency adverb pairs that anchor the peninsular present perfect.
- Affirmative default: Ya he + participio (before the auxiliary) or He + participio + ya (after the participle).
- Negative default: Todavía no he + participio / Aún no he + participio — front position, locked together with no.
- aún (with accent) = still / yet; aun (no accent) = even. The accent disambiguates two different words.
- Ya no
- present = I don't anymore (current state). It does not normally pair with the perfect.
- Drill the question form ¿Has + participio + ya? — it's one of the most frequent constructions in everyday peninsular speech.
Now practice Spanish
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Start learning Spanish→Related Topics
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