Two useful adverbs of time: già and ormai

By Sigrid Lee

Let's talk about two important Italian adverbs of time: già and ormai

Già, meaning "already" comes from the Latin "iam," later spelled "jam," meaning "already," "now," or "presently" in English. It indicates a change of state, that something has occurred "by this time." It then became già in Italian. We could say già marks a transition between a previous and present moment in time. In other words, we're talking about something that has happened in the past relative to the present or relative to a more recent point in the past, in the case of past tenses.

Perché casa mia non era all'altezza? -Te l'ho già detto, per adesso sono felice di aver lasciato casa dei miei.

Because my house wasn't up to par? -I already told you. For now, I'm happy to have left my parents' house.

Captions 4-6, I Bastardi di Pizzofalcone S2 EP1 Cuccioli - Part 14
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The example above is something people say quite often: Te l'ho già detto (I already told you that).

If we think about the English translation of già, "already" does the trick most of the time.

Anzi, il destro [è] di diverso colore, quindi era già stato sostituito.

Rather, the right one [is] of a different color, so it had already been replaced.

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Be', forse era già incinta.

Well, maybe she was already pregnant.

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On a practical level, however, there are nuances that an Italian-Italian dictionary such as Treccani will point out. And if we look at the etymology (etimologia) of a word, it can help provide insights into its meanings and deepen our understanding, depending on where we are coming from. If someone has studied Latin, for example, etymology can be quite helpful. Or if someone knows French or Spanish, there can be clues to help us remember an Italian word, for instance, in Spanish, "ya," and in French "déjà," in the case of già.

A common expression is Già fatto (already done/[I've] done it already)! In this case, we don't need to add a personal pronoun and the auxiliary verb avere (to have). È una frase fatta (it's an idiomatic expression) meaning "already done/taken care of."

Bisogna chiamare subito il commissario. -Già fatto, ma ha il cellulare spento.

We have to call the chief right away. -Already done, but his phone is off.

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Già fatto can also be posed as a question: Già fatto (are you already done)? And when we want to ask, "Already?", we can use: di già?

Io vado, eh. -Di già?

I'm going, huh. -Already?

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We can also use già all by itself, or preceded by eh, to confirm something someone has said, as in, "Oh, right," "Yeah," "Yes, of course," or "Yeah, yeah."

Gli uomini sposati non le lasciano le mogli. -Già.

Married men never leave their wives. -Yeah/Oh, right.

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It's often used after person A reminds person B of something, and person B remembers and says Già or Eh, già.

Vieni a prenderlo. -Hai promesso. -Eh, già, i patti sono patti.

Come and get it. -You promised. -Yeah, yeah, a deal's a deal.

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Ormai or oramai (both are correct) can mean "by now," "at this point," or "already." The difference between già and ormai is in relation to the current moment. As opposed to ora (now) and già (already), which primarily refer to the present and the past, respectively, we use ormai to emphasize the passage of time and its relevance to the current situation, so it's more about the relationship between the past and the present.

In the following example, ormai has been translated as "now," but only because it's together with "for some time."

È il progetto del grande centro residenziale a cui stiamo lavorando ormai da tempo.

It is the project of the large residential complex on which we have been working for some time now.

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The most common English equivalents for ormai are "at this point" and "by now." If you are thinking in English and looking for the right Italian word, ormai is your friend.

Ormai è sicuro, gatta ci cala [sic: ci cova].

At this point, it is certain that something fishy is going on.

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Una precisione: Note that, even though a sentence can be in the past, oramai or ormai doesn't change, but the English translation will change from "by now" to "by then," or from "at this point" to "at that point."

Era l'unico modo che avevo per bloccarla e mi sono pentito subito dopo, ma ormai era troppo tardi.

It was the only way I had to block her and I regretted it right after that, but at that point it was too late.

Captions 62-64, Imma Tataranni Sostituto procuratore S1 EP4 Maltempo - Part 19
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When it's too late to change a situation, ormai is a good word. In other words the person is saying, "Well, if you didn't want to disturb me, it's too late because you have already disturbed me."

No, no, non mi disturbi, cioè, sì, anche se mi disturbi, ormai è fatta.

No, no, you are not interrupting me, I mean, yes, even if you're interrupting me, at this point, it's done.

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Niente, che non rispondono nemmeno ai messaggi, quindi mi sa che ormai non vengono.

Nothing, they're not even replying to texts, so I guess they're not coming at this point/by now.

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As we mentioned above, oramai and ormai are equivalents, but in everyday, informal speech, ormai is more common. Nonetheless, we do see oramai used occasionally. Here, we have oramai plus già! Ungaretti was a writer and a poet, and was born in 1888, so it's not surprising he said the more archaic oramai.

C'era il mondo elegante di Roma e c'erano centinaia e centinaia di studenti che stavano nei corridoi perché non riuscivano a entrare nella, nell'aula magna oramai già gremita di gente.

There was the elegant world of Rome, and there were hundreds and hundreds of students who were in the corridors because they couldn't enter, in the great hall, by then, already crowded with people.

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Daniela teaches a lesson devoted to ormai. Check out the video here.

Thanks for reading. Doing a search of già and ormai on the videos page will bring up dozens more authentic examples of these adverbs. If you see some examples that you have trouble understanding, please leave a comment or write to us at [email protected].