The hidden meanings of “YA” in Spanish

Have you ever come across the word “ya” in Spanish, assumed it meant “already”, but found that didn’t quite make sense in context?

One of my students asked this question and I wanted to share my response with you all.

Steve, member of our Caminos Spanish Story Club, posted this question about one of our stories:

There are multiple sentences in the story that use “Ya” and I don’t understand why:

Ya puedes llamar. – Why not just “Puedes llamar?”

¡Ya vienen! – I would have written, “Ellos vienen.”

Sí, ya está despierta. – I would have just written, “Está despierta.”

Great question, Steve! Many Spanish learners know that the word ya means already, but it can also have other meanings, such as now.

So you can think of these sentences in the following way:

Ya puedes llamar. = You can call now.

¡Ya vienen! = They’re coming now! or They’re on their way! (Yes, you could say “ellos ya vienen” but we don’t often need the subject pronoun in Spanish if it’s already clear who we’re talking about. In this case, the verb conjugation (vienen – third person, plural) already helps us out with that clarification.

Sí, ya está despierta. = Yes, she’s awake now.

Something that can help you distinguish the meaning is looking at the verbs in the sentence. Do you see past tense verbs? In that case, ya is likely meaning already. Do you see present tense verbs? Then ya may be indicating now. That’s what we see in the above example sentences with the verbs puedes, vienen, and está (all present tense!)

Here’s an example.

“Ya nos toca, Joel”. (It’s our turn, Joel.)

We may not say in English “It’s our turn now” (although we could), but in Spanish, this little word, which you’ll soon get super accustomed to hearing and using, adds that little bit of emphasis that it’s time to go now.

Now that you’ve learned about “ya” take it to conversation! Watch my short free training below to learn how.

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Erica Ray

Owner/Author at Erica Ray Language

Hi! I'm Erica Ray. I'm a self-taught bilingual gal from the U.S., language teacher and coach, expat in Mexico and a former English/Spanish medical interpreter. I help Spanish learners go from struggling learners to confident Spanish speakers. My students learn to create and stick to a personalized and comprehensive study plan, practice their speaking regularly and establish powerful learning habits to finally progress toward conversational fluency.

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