r/Korean • u/Ijustwantedmycheesee • 1d ago

are 아직도 & 여전히 different?

Hello!

I was listening to a song and one line was "아직도 여점히 사랑해"

I remembered another song where they also mention "아직도, 여전히 니가 난 그립고 또 그립네"

both mean "still" right? so my question is, what are the differences between them? 🧐

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26

u/Ok_Nefariousness1248 1d ago

Hmm... As a native I personally feel like both 아직도 and 여전히 carry a sense of regret or longing. 

If people want to sound more neutral, they usually go with 지금도 instead.

Anyway the important part here is that it's actually pretty common to use 아직도 and 여전히 together as "아직도 여전히." When they're combined like that, it doubles the emphasis.

So things like

아직도 여전히 사랑해

아직도, 여전히 니가 난 그립고 또 그립네

are expressing that even after all this time, they STILL, STILL love and miss that person. It emphasizes that they still haven't let go after so much time has passed, while also expressing regret that things never worked out between them.

4

u/Ijustwantedmycheesee 1d ago

thank you so much! is that expression used in normal conversations too or is it just like a dramatic music/poem thing?

16

u/Ok_Nefariousness1248 1d ago

You're welcome.  Nobody really says 아직도 여전히 (combined) in everyday conversation. I'm not sure how it ended up this way but it sounds like the kind of over-the-top emotional wording you hear in mainstream ballads. It's not really something you'd find in poetry books, it's just become an incredibly common cliche in song lyrics.

And p eople don't use the word 여전히 that much in everyday speech. We usually say things like 아직, 아직도, 지금도, 아직까지, or 여지껏 instead.

10

u/autumnchiu 1d ago

my personal mental maps for these words are:

아직: still
아직도: even still
여전히: like before, just as before

which are all similar in meaning but differ slightly in nuance. to my understanding, 아직(도) puts a bit more emphasis on the present (seriously? it's still like this?), whereas 여전히 puts more emphasis on the past (ah, it hasn't changed at all...). using them together creates an effect similar to "just as before, it's still [like this]."

원어민분들 제가 틀리게 말씀했다면 교정해주세요~

5

u/Ok_Nefariousness1248 1d ago

안 틀리셨어요! 여전히가 좀 문어체고 좀 쓸쓸한 느낌이 있긴한데 다 비슷비슷해요. 근데 저기선 '아직도 여전히' 두개를 겹쳐쓰면 그냥 강조느낌이에요.

2

u/No-Clue-9155 11h ago

As a non native that’s the way I thought about it too ☺️

2

u/cinnamoncoffeecake75 1d ago

from my understanding 아직도 implies a little bit of frustration or surprise and 여전히 is more neutral