I have a couple sentences containing もう in my anki deck that I now find ambiguous, especially because they have the same structure.
もう帰る with the translation “to return home now”, but today I typed “will return home soon” as answer instead and wasn’t sure if that’s correct as well. Are both correct and if not how do I know?
I also have もう別れる with the translation “will break up soon, will part ways soon”. Would “to break up now” also be correct?
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In a broader sense, もう just means for something to have changed when the state was expected to be continuing. Unfortunately English has several ways to translate this, but Japanese only has one. When you see sentences like -
もう帰る
もう別れる
They can be translated as either ‘already’ or ‘soon’. Like ‘I’m gonna go home already’, or ‘Let’s break up already’. The nuance is that the actions have already been decided, and nothing will change the outcome. For the breakup one, imagine someone saying something like ‘We fight all the time, so let’s break up already’. They haven’t broken up yet, but the action has already been decided. Same with going home. ‘Whoa it’s late, better go home already’.
Both of your translations are correct, but the underlying nuance will be the what I highlighted above.
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OP, if you feel that you are able to then this is the sort of time when looking at a Japanese dictionary entry helps a lot. Here is an example (I didn’t include the whole definition as it wasn’t relevant to your question):
三省堂国語辞典 第七版
- もう ㊀（副） ①思ったよりも早く そうなっていることをあらわす。 「━九時だ・━読んだのか」 ②そのことが〈間近である／実現した〉ことをあらわす。 「━寝(ネ)ます・━来ても いいころだ・━わかりました」
You can see that this doesn’t map perfectly onto English but the meaning is pretty clear, in my opinion. If you are asking more specifically about translating rather than meaning then it is just context dependent - honestly, translating well seems like a horrible job as there is always some way to nitpick.
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Makes sense, I think I understand how it works now. I thought whether it means soon or now, may somehow depend on what verb you use it with, but seems it doesn’t.
I guess saying もう別れる when you’re talking to a third person about your relationship will mostly mean soon, for example, 彼女とはもう別れる “I will break up with my girlfriend soon”. Because you have to see her first in order to break up, both partners have to participate in a break up. If you’re talking with your girlfriend ‘Let’s break up already’ would be もう別れよう. But saying just もう別れる to her would probably not make sense?
Or another situation: you’re at the beach and say もう帰る. It could mean you immediately start folding your towels and getting ready to leave. But could it also be used in the situation where you will go home soon but not yet, for example you want to relax for about 10 more minutes and then start getting ready to leave?
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The second definition for もう in 大辞林 第三版 is as follows:
時間や場所にある基準点を定めて，それに近づく意を表す。「―そろそろ頂上だ」「駅は―すぐそこだ」「―着くころだ」
Essentially, it can mark a reference point in time or place and is used to express one approaching that point.
As you know, Japanese is highly contextual so it really depends on the context. Now, someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but based on the definition here, if someone says もう帰る but they’re clearly not in the process of leaving, then it’s safe to probably assume they’re getting ready to leave in the near future, the point in which they are approaching could be 5-10 minutes away before they head home. However, in a situation where the person is clearly getting ready to leave, もう帰る would likely be interpreted as them leaving right away.
Essentially, really all もう is doing in this sense is marking a point in time in which whatever follows it is soon approaching that point. Whether soon means immediately, or within a few minutes, depends on the context.
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I could be wrong (checked with a native and they said I am correct - be careful though as this is the opinion of one person only) but I would basically always interpret もう帰る as “[subject] is going home now (already, either earlier than expected or they have had enough of the situation)”. They could be just about to go, like a second before, but for the meaning of some minutes/soon before actually leaving you need to expand on the sentence/phrase. For example, using もうすぐ帰る, as in the dictionary example josh provided, would imply some minutes/“soon” and not “now”. The reason I say I would basically always interpret it like this and not always is because it is obviously possible to announce もう帰る and then get caught up and not actually leave.
帰る is a tricky verb as just saying 帰る (in the context of talking about what is happening now) would be translated as present continuous in English ("[subject] is going home"). もう帰っている means [subject] has already gone.
To make things a bit clearer, when もう is used in a phrase or fixed pattern, like the examples from josh’s dictionary entry, it is better translated as “soon” (もうすぐ、もうそろそろ). In the cases where it might mean “now” it has the nuance of “now, which is earlier than expected/someone has had enough of the situation” which is to say that it means the same as “already”. Consider the “negative” usage of もう such as もういいよ (“Enough already! That’s enough now!” - more naturally, just “Enough!”) or もうやめて (“Stop that already! Stop that now!” - more naturally just “Stop it!”).
I think this may be one of those cases where listening/reading more will help a lot with understanding the nuance - I would say もう has one essential meaning though and it isn’t something you can put onto a single English word.
Edit: I checked with a native and they said I am correct in my understanding although be warned that this is one opinion only.
I also want to add that in context, in media or real life, you probably will have no issues working out what nuance is intended. I have a vague memory of having a similar question when I started learning but it turned out to be a non-issue. This discussion makes it sound more complex than it really is.
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That was the way I was thinking it would be interpreted as well. It just sounds like a more immediate action when someone says もう帰る. Keeping the “already” nuance whatever the actual translation probably helps get closer to the meaning/intention. That said, as you mentioned, context will make things clear.
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