The best way to say "by now"
¡Hola a todos!
After reading and plugging phrases into the translator all morning, I am finally understanding that in English, we generally use the phrase, "by now" to indicate what should have happened. Therefore, I suspect this is why "by now" does not have a good word-for-word translation?
I think one would use some form of the verb "deber" + "ya". Like, "Debería trabajando ya" for "I should be working by now." (or another translation would be, "I should be working already"--which I should, a proposito). Google usually translates it "Debería trabajando por ahora." But this does not seem right since "por ahora" means "for now". And I do not want to say, "I should be working for now."
Am I on the right track? Any clarifications would be appreciated!
5 Answers
"Debería estar trabajando ya" for "I should be working by now" is the correct translation.
"Por ahora" is "For now," or "At the moment."
I should be working by now = "Ya debería estar trabajando"
This site suggests "ya" for by now,
Our translator uses por ahora for both "by now" and "for now".
It also used por el momento as both "for the moment" and "by this time".
Of course, not one ever accused it of being the brightest bulb in the package.
por ahora
Ok, so it seems I was sort of on the right track, but I forgot the "estar" part of "Debería estar trabajando ya." One dictionary also mentioned the phrase "en este tiempo" for a translation of "by now". That seems sort of wrong, pero estoy aprendiendo todavía.
