"уже" or "ещё"

Situation 1. Он рабо́тает? - Нет, он уже́ в о́тпуске.

Situation 2. Он рабо́тает? - Нет, он ещё в о́тпуске.

Do you understand the difference between situations? Let's figure it out together. ;)

Ещё can mean:

→ process has not started yet
Я ещё не в о́тпуске, я рабо́таю.
→ the expected result has not yet been achieved,
Она́ ещё не пригото́вила у́жин.
→ the action that should have ended is still going on.
Ты до́ма? - Нет, я ещё на рабо́те, бу́ду в о́фисе до семи́.

Уже can mean:

→ the process has already ended

Я уже́ была́ в о́тпуске, хорошо́ отдохну́ла.

→ the result is achieved
Она́ уже́ пригото́вила у́жин.
→ by the time they spoke, another action had already begun.

Ты рабо́таешь? - Нет, я уже́ уво́лился.

Let's go back to the situations at the beginning.

Situation 1. Он рабо́тает? - Нет, он уже́ в о́тпуске.

In this situation, the hero worked before the vacation, that is, by the time of the speech, another action had already begun - the vacation.

Situation 2. Он рабо́тает? - Нет, он ещё в о́тпуске.

In this situation, the hero did not return from vacation, that is, according to the plan, he should have returned, the action should have ended, but the vacation is still ongoing.

Picture from pexels.com.

👉 Russian