ещё vs. уже

[dil.livejournal.com]

Can somebody please explain in which cases "yet" is translated into Russian as "ещё", and in which as "уже"?

Examples for thought:

Have you done your homework yet? - Ты уже сделал уроки?
Haven't you done your homework yet? - Ты ещё не сделал уроки?

Looks like declarative version is уже, while negative is ещё, but..

"Are you doing your homework yet?" can be both: "Ты уже делаешь уроки?" (Have you started yet?) and "Ты ещё делаешь уроки?" (Haven't you finshed yet?)
Same with "Aren't you doing your homework yet?": "Ты ещё не делаешь уроки?" (Haven't you started yet?) and "Ты уже не делаешь уроки?" (Have you finished yet?)

P.S. Russian is my mother tongue, более того, пару лет назад я занял I место в онлайновом конкурсе знатоков русского языка, проводимого Пермским политехническим университетом, but I can't formulate that..

Comments

[oryx_and_crake]

Please note that the working language of this community is English. Thank you.

To the OP: I believe your question pertains to peculiarities of the English and not the Russian language, so you would probably be better off if you take it to ru_learnenglish.

[dil.livejournal.com]

There's no problem with English, it's always "yet".
The problem is with Russian, so we "learn-russian" :)

[alexboogie.livejournal.com]

There is just three cases:

1. You are sure that some proccess started at the past, and want to know if it`s already finished.
Then you ask - "Ты уже закончил делать уроки ?".
If you have strong doubts, you can use a negation - "Ты еще не закончил делать уроки ?", in that case "уже" switches to "ещё не".

2. You are sure that some proccess started at the past, and want to know if it`s still going on.
Then you ask - "Ты ещё делаешь уроки ?".
Or "Ты уже не делаешь уроки ?", if you use a negation - in that case "ещё" switches to "уже не".

3. If you aren`t sure if some process has begun and want to clarify it, you ask "Ты уже делаешь уроки ?".
Or "Ты еще не делаешь уроки ?", with a negation.

The same thing if you don`t ask but state something:

1. "Я уже закончил делать уроки"
2. "Я ещё делаю уроки"
3. "Я уже делаю уроки"

Negation in that case isn`t just a doubt, it completely changes the meaning.

[dyadya-b.livejournal.com]

I think the difference is in supposing of the state of the action - completed or not.
"Уже" - if you suppose somebody have done something
"Еще" - if you suppose somebody still have not done something.
For example: "Ты уже сделал уроки?" - Have you finished the homework? (You suppose homework is already done).
"Ты еще не сделал уроки?" - You suppose homework is still not done.

"Я уже еду на работу" - I have been driving to work yet(I am already have started my trip to work)
"Я еще еду на работу" - I have driving to work still (I go to work, but still have not come there).

[viata.livejournal.com]

Just think of it as still vs. already.
You said it yourself: уже (already) is about starting early (Ты уже делаешь уроки?), and ещё (still) is about finishing late (Ты ещё делаешь уроки?)

Ты ещё не делаешь уроки? (you are procrastinating longer than expected)
Ты уже не делаешь уроки? (you are done earlier than expected)