ännu

Ännu is a Swedish adverb with several related uses. Its core senses are temporal continuation, degree of extent, and not-yet negation. It signals that a situation persists up to the present, or that something is more pronounced than expected, and it is also used to mean “not yet” in combination with negation.

In practice, ännu is placed before the word it modifies, especially before adjectives, adverbs, or participles: exempelvis ännu bättre, ännu längre, ännu mer. It can also stand with a finite verb to denote continued action: Hon arbetar ännu. Det är ännu inte klart. The construction inte ännu is common to stress that something has not happened up to now. In many contexts, ännu and fortfarande (still/continuing) are interchangeable, though ännu often carries a stronger sense of progression or heightened degree.

Common uses include:

- Time: Han är ännu i kö. They use ännu to indicate ongoing state.

- Degree: Det är ännu tyngre än vi trodde; ännu mer arbete krävs.

- Not yet: Vi har ännu inte fått svar.

Etymology traces ännu to North Germanic roots; cognates appear in Danish endnu and Norwegian enda/ennå, reflecting shared linguistic heritage.

See also: fortfarande, fortfarande, samt uttryck som inte ännu. Ännu is versatile in both spoken and written Swedish, but its nuance depends on context, pairing with negation, and the word it modifies.