already
adv. timeadv. before now or before a specific time in the past. You use it to show that something happened sooner than you expected.
adv. prior to a specified or implied time; before the present moment. Often used to emphasize that an action is complete or that a situation exists earlier than anticipated.
I have already finished my homework.
By the time the guests arrived for dinner, the host had already prepared the main course and set the table.
The committee had already reached a consensus on the budget before the final presentation began, rendering the subsequent debate largely symbolic.
From Middle English alredy (“fully; already”), equivalent to al- (“all, completely”) + ready. Cognate with West Frisian alreeds (“already”), Dutch alreeds (“already”), Afrikaans alreeds (“already”), Middle Low German alreide, alreids ("already"; whence modern German Low German alreeds (“already”)), Danish allerede (“already”), Swedish allaredan (“already”), Norwegian Nynorsk allereie (“already”). More at all, ready. The use as an intensifier in American English is a semantic loan from Yiddish שוין (shoyn), attested from 1903. In Singapore English, the use of already as a marker of action completion and change of state is analogous to Hokkien 了 (liáu), Teochew 了 (liao²) and Mandarin 了 (le). Compare Malay (su)dah and Cantonese 咗 (zo²), 喇 (laa³).
Typically placed between the auxiliary verb and the main verb, or at the end of a clause for emphasis.
I already have seen that movie.I have already seen that movie.In mid-position, the adverb usually sits after the first auxiliary verb rather than before it.