Questions & Answers about Я ещё не успел сделать домашнее задание.
What does ещё не успел mean exactly?
It means something like haven’t done it yet because there hasn’t been enough time so far.
The verb успеть is about:
- having enough time
- managing to do something before a certain moment
- succeeding in time
So Я ещё не успел сделать домашнее задание is very close to:
- I haven’t had time to do my homework yet
- I haven’t managed to do my homework yet
It is not just simple non-completion. It specifically suggests a time limit or expected moment.
Why is успел in the past tense?
This is very natural in Russian.
Russian often uses the past tense of успеть to talk about whether something has been completed by now or before some moment.
So:
- Я ещё не успел сделать... = I haven’t had time to do... yet
- literally, it is closer to I did not manage in time yet
English uses a present perfect here, but Russian does not have a direct equivalent of the English present perfect. Very often, Russian uses the past tense where English uses have done / haven’t done.
Why is it успел and not успела?