schon · noch · nicht mehr · erst

Right now: same sentence, one word, opposite meaning

ShortcutAll four answer one question: what was the situation before, and what is it now? Wasn’t, now is → schon. Wasn’t, still isn’t → noch nicht. Was, still is → noch. Was, now isn’t → nicht mehr.

These four words are taught in A1 but still get mixed up when you speak. The reason is simple: English has separate words for already, still, yet and any more, while German gets by with schon, noch and mehr and shifts the meaning with nicht. The same little word noch is “still” in one sentence and “yet” in another.

Three different situations, one word apart. If you pick the wrong one, the sentence doesn’t break — it flips. Nobody corrects you, because the sentence is perfect German; you just said something else.

Table: four places on the timeline

Put all four in one table and the system shows: two rows, two columns. The row tells you the before, the column tells you the now. Before you choose a word, ask the two questions in that order.

Two positives: schon and noch

schon says something is already the case, or earlier than expected: “it has happened.” noch says something keeps going: “still, not over.” In the same sentence frame the two tell two different stories.

Two bonus uses. schon + a length of time does the job of English “I have been … -ing for”: Ich wohne schon 3 Jahre hier. = I have been living here for 3 years. (Note the present tense in German.) In everyday speech people often add seit: Ich wohne schon seit 3 Jahren hier.

noch carries both “still” and “one more”: Noch ein Bier, bitte! = One more beer, please. What the two share is continuation. With a masculine noun, ein still changes its ending: Ich möchte noch einen Kaffee.

Two negatives: noch nicht and nicht mehr

Both end in “not” and both describe something that isn’t the case now, so they get mixed up. The difference is direction: noch nicht looks forward — it hasn’t happened but will. nicht mehr looks back — it did happen but it’s over.

In a sentence with two verbs the pair stays in the middle and the second verb stays at the end: Ich habe noch nicht gegessen. = I haven’t eaten yet. · Ich kann nicht mehr warten. = I can’t wait any longer.

When what you negate is a noun, both turn into kein: not yet any → noch kein, no more → kein … mehr. Ich habe noch keine Wohnung. = I don’t have a flat yet. · Ich habe keine Wohnung mehr. = I don’t have a flat any more.

English “more” and “yet” are not one word in German

English uses more, any more, another, -er and only in ways that look alike, and German splits them differently: time, quantity and comparison each get their own word. Mix them up and the sentence comes out odd or reversed.

“More” as a quantity has nothing to do with time; that job belongs to mehr alone:

What nobody tells you: the question already gives the answer

This is the one rule that moves these four words from “I know them” to “I speak them.” If the question came with schon, the “no” is noch nicht. If the question came with noch, the “no” is nicht mehr.

Germans don’t calculate this, it is a reflex. Don’t calculate either: look at the word in the question, and the word for the negative answer is already decided. The “yes” is even easier: Ja. or a full sentence, Ja, ich bin fertig.

The fourth word, erst: same clock, different view

erst says a number or a time is “less than expected.” Facing it stands schon: “more than expected.” Same time, same number — a different view.

The second job of erst is “not until”: something will happen later than expected. Er kommt erst morgen. = He’s not coming until tomorrow, not today. · Der Zug kommt erst um 10 Uhr. = The train doesn’t arrive until 10.

Test yourself, then pocket it

Six sentences, six gaps. The English in brackets tells you which meaning is wanted. Fill them in yourself first, then check the answers below.

• 1 · Er ist ___ da. (already here)
• 2 · Ich bin ___ fertig. (not done yet)
• 3 · Ich habe ___ Zeit ___. (no time left)
• 4 · Es ist ___ 7 Uhr. (only 7, still early)
• 5 · Wohnst du ___ in Köln? (still)
• 6 · Ich wohne ___ dort. (not any more)

6/6 → all four words have landed. 4-5 → have another look at the trap section. 3 or fewer → save the four-state table and, in every sentence, find the row first and the column second.

• Ich bin schon da. I’m already here. schon · wasn’t, now is
• Ich bin noch da. I’m still here. noch · was, still is
• Ich bin noch nicht fertig. I’m not done yet. noch nicht · hasn’t happened but will
• Ich arbeite nicht mehr. I don’t work any more. nicht mehr · it happened but it’s over
• Ich habe keine Zeit mehr. I have no time left. kein … mehr · with a noun
• Es ist erst 8 Uhr. It’s only 8 o’clock. erst · less than expected
• Ich wohne schon 3 Jahre hier. I have been living here for 3 years. schon + duration · present tense
• Noch ein Bier, bitte! One more beer, please! noch ein · one more

One-line summary: schon has started · noch is still going · noch nicht hasn’t started yet · nicht mehr is over.