déjà

Déjà is a French adverb meaning "already." It is used to indicate that an action or event occurred before the moment of reference. In everyday French, déjà can appear before the verb in simple tenses or after the auxiliary in compound tenses, as in Je l'ai déjà vu or Il est déjà parti. It can also modify adjectives or predicates, for example il est déjà tard.

In questions, déjà is commonly placed before the verb: As-tu déjà mangé? In negative constructions, encore is often used to express the sense of "not yet" rather than déjà: Je ne suis pas encore arrivé. While déjà frequently appears in present perfect-like sequences, its placement and emphasis can vary with tense and style.

Etymology and form: the word déjà comes from Old French and is attested in the medieval period. Its precise historical origin is not definitively established, but it has been part of standard French for centuries. The word is written with diacritics: é on the first syllable and à at the end, reflecting French orthography.

Beyond French, déjà appears primarily in reference to the phrase déjà vu, which has entered English and many other languages to describe the sensation of having already experienced something. The standalone adverb is less common outside French contexts, though the phrase remains widely recognized. In everyday usage, déjà serves as a concise way to express prior occurrence, often contrasted with encore for “not yet.”