כבר / עדיין / עוד

Already Still and Yet

Level 3

כבר commonly means already; עדיין means still; עוד can mean still or more. Their meanings change in common combinations with לא.

How It Works

Completion and Continuation

כבר הגעתי presents arrival as completed by the relevant point. אני עדיין כאן presents a continuing state. אני עוד כאן is another natural way to say I am still here. The event’s tense comes from its verb or sentence structure, not from the adverb alone.

Negation Changes the Reading

עדיין לא and עוד לא mean not yet in suitable sentences: היא עוד לא הגיעה. כבר לא usually means no longer: אני כבר לא גר שם. Do not translate every כבר as already when the complete phrase says something different.

More and Additional Amounts

עוד מים means more water; עוד ספר means another book. The noun phrase makes that reading different from אני עוד בבית. English yet can also have other jobs, so choose the Hebrew construction from the sentence’s meaning rather than replacing a word in isolation.

Examples (4)

  1. כבר סיימתי את העבודה.

    I have already finished the work.

    כבר marks completion by now.

  2. אני עדיין בבית.

    I am still at home.

    עדיין marks continuation.

  3. היא עוד לא הגיעה.

    She has not arrived yet.

    עוד לא marks an event still pending.

  4. אני כבר לא גר שם.

    I no longer live there.

    כבר לא marks a state that has ended.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

כבר / עדיין / עודLevel 3Already Still and Yet

Learn This First

Distinguish an event that has happened from one that continues or has not happened yet.