"¿Ya quedamos para la noche?"
I think it means something like "Are we still on for tonight?" or "Do we still have a date tonight?" or "Are we still going to meet up tonight?"

But my question is about the structure. In English, we use "still", because it continues from the past (we made a date and I am asking if it is still in effect). But still in Spanish would be "todavía¨. So I am having a little problem understanding the function of Ya here.

Can anyone explain this? Does it literally mean "we already planned on tonight, right?" or something else.

Por favor ayúdenme a entender este uso de "ya" en esa frase. Gracias de antemano.
Pueden responder o en inglés o en español.

Respuestas

HanyuuFurude

4 sep 2021

Respuesta destacada

Español (México)

Honestly if you interpret it like that it's fine, there won't be any misunderstanding. But there is a small difference to a "are we still on", normally people would say "¿Sigue en pie lo de esta noche?" to mean exactly that. "¿Ya quedamos para la noche?" is asking you if tonight's date is already decided. It gives a feeling that you guys were a little bit hesitant on when to schedule the date, and so this person wants to confirm that it's scheduled for tonight in order to avoid any possible confusion.
In regards to the grammar, this "ya" means "already". The sentence literally translates to "Are we already on for tonight?" even though it may not sound right in English

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Tsanya28

4 sep 2021

Español (México)
Español (España)

¡Hola! I am not sure if i am losing something, but I have never heard someone saying "¿Ya quedamos para esta noche?" and meaning "are we still on for tonight?". For me, and I speak spanish, it literally means "We already arranged to go out tonight?".

PabloLASF

4 sep 2021

Inglés (US)

@Tsanya28 Thanks. To be still on for something In English means "we already arranged to do something and it hasn't been canceled." E.g. Are we still on for the movies Saturday? = We already agreed to go to the movies on Saturday, nothing has changed, right". or something like that. From your answer it looks like you answered my question. Ya is used because in Spanish you think of that sentence as meaning We already agreed to go out tonight, right?
Thanks for you help.