Is the Spanish 'YA' equivalent to both 'already' and 'yet'?

Question

Ya estás allí

means

You are already there

But:

¿Ya estás allí?

means

Are you there yet?

Another example:

It would be wrong to say 'Ya no' when trying to mean 'Not yet'. The translation of 'Not yet' is 'Todavia no'.

However, 'Ya no' is a very popular phrase used to say 'Not anymore'.

So the word 'Ya' means sometimes 'yet', sometimes 'already', and sometimes 'anymore'?

Answer 1

You are correct, it can mean 'yet', 'already' and 'anymore', depending on whether it goes with a positive, negative or interrogative particle.

Answer 2

And sometimes "now":

¿Cúando vas a ir?
Ya.

When are you going to go?
Right now.

Remember not to translate the word, but the idea that conveys the word. In the case of "ya" it is specially difficult because the word can be used to:

1. Talk about past times. Ya hemos hablado de eso. (We've already talk about that.)
2. Talk about the present. ¡Aumento de salarios, ya! (Salary raise, now!)
3. Talk about the present in relation with the past. Tenía mucho dinero, pero ya es pobre. (He had a lot of money, now he's a poor man.)
4. Talk about the future. Ya hablaremos de eso. (We'll discuss that some day.)
5. Concede o support something said. Ah, ya entiendo. (Oh, I see.)
6. Distribute sentences. Ya con gozo, ya con dolor. (Be it with joy or with pain.)

So what you need to do is understand the context and the usage of the word in Spanish, and try to express the same idea in English, regardless of the words used in the original sentence.