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| Diego, tenemos que irnos ya, en este momento. |
| ¿A dónde? |
| ¡A la fiesta! ¡Está comenzando ahora mismo! |
| No, pero espera, ahora estamos grabando. Primero tenemos que terminar este video. |
| OK. |
| Y además, ¿vas a ir vestido así? |
| Ah, es que compré estos pantalones en una tienda en internet y… Ah, ¿sabías que para ellos la talla chica es así? |
| ¿Qué? ¿Así? |
| Sí. |
| OK, no lo sabía, pero ahora lo sé. Or, should I say “ya lo sé”? |
| Okay, guys, so, in today’s video, we’re going to learn the difference between “ya” and “ahora.” So, hopefully, guys, if you’re interested, please stay with us in this video and enjoy it. |
| Okay, guys, so now in this video, we’re going to learn an essential difference between ya and ahora. Sometimes, these words can be seen as synonyms, and sometimes they are misused in some contexts. So, in this video, we’re going to try to clarify these two concepts and very important and widely used in Spanish. |
| Okay, so, when you want to convey the word “now” it is better to use the word “ahora.” But, when you want to convey the idea of “already,” it is better to use “ya.” Sometimes, they work as synonyms, when you want to say now, when something has to be done right now. |
| When something has to be done right now you can use either “ya” or “ahora.” So, for example: |
| Ay, Efraín, no sé si llamarle a Sofía o no. |
| ¡Llámale ya! ¡Llámale ahora! ¡Hazlo! |
| Tienes razón. |
| So, at the beginning, we used these two expressions: “ya lo sé” and “ahora lo sé.” So, you use “ya lo sé” when you previously knew this information, when it is obvious, or when you’re pretty sure that you knew that. For example: |
| Diego, tenemos que grabar este video rápido, ya va a llover. |
| Sí, bueno, eso ya lo sé, Efraín. |
| I mean, it is obvious that it’s raining. |
| Okay, so, now, when there is new information, something that you didn’t know, in this case, you will use “ahora,” okay? So, when you use “ahora,” you basically are saying “now I know it,” so there is a change in the information. Something that you didn’t know, and now you do. For example: |
| Diego, es de muy mala suerte decirle a una chica que tiene el cabello de tu perro. |
| What? |
| No lo sabía, pero les disgusta mucho. Ahora lo sé. |
| So, basically, what he said is that he didn’t know that making that action was bad, and now he knows that because of his experience. So, he couldn’t have used “ya lo sé.” |
| But, ahora lo sé. |
| But, ahora lo sé. |
| Now, let’s start with the negations, and here we have two expressions: “ya no” and “ahora no.” Okay, so, you use “ya no” when you are doing an action and then you want to stop doing that, uh-huh. |
| Exactly. |
| So, you use “ya no,” but keep this in mind: you have to use “ya no” at the beginning of the sentence, contrary to the English, when you put “anymore” at the end. |
| Exactly. |
| For example: |
| Efraín, ¿quieres un dulce? |
| Sí. |
| ¿Quieres otro dulce? |
| Mh-hm. |
| ¿Quieres otro dulce? |
| Ya no. No, ya no quiero más dulces. I don’t want candies anymore. |
| Very good. Now, we also have “ahora no,” and “ahora no” is a bit different than “ya no” because “ahora no” is that you don’t want to start doing that action. Is not something that is an ongoing action, but rather that you don’t even want to start that action. So, I’m just like this and then Efraín offers me some candies: |
| ¿Quieres un dulce? |
| No, ahora no. Estoy bien, gracias. |
| No, not now, I’m good, thank you. |
| Now, in the next category in this fight of “ya” versus “ahora” is the sense of urgency. The difference here between them is slight. It’s small. |
| Yeah, exactly. Why? Because “ya” and “ahora” could both be translated as “right now,” however, in Mexico, we use “ya” for meaning “at this precise moment,” whereas we use “ahora” for meaning in a few minutes or a bit later. So, let me give you an example, if I call Efraín because the food is ready and I want him to come, I would say: |
| Efraín, ven, la comida ya está lista. |
| ¡Ya voy! |
| However, that means like “yeah, I’m on my way right now,” but, if I say: |
| Efraín, la comida está lista. |
| ¡Ahora voy! |
| It means that maybe he's going to take a while in order to come for the food. |
| Now, let's sum up this lesson. You can usually translate ya as already and now as ahora. And it is pretty similar to English. When you want to say “already,” you use “ya,” and when you want to say “now,” you use “ahora.” However, there are three main differences between them. |
| Exactly, so we talk about the change between the information that you didn't know and now you know or the information that is pretty obvious that you know or that you already knew. Okay, so number one. Number two, we also talk about the urgency. The urgency between “ya” and “ahora.” The slight difference that we have in Mexico. And number three, we talk about the negations. Okay, when you use “ya no” and when you use “ahora no.” |
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| ¡Hasta luego! |
| ¡Hasta luego! |
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