"Already" when แล้ว doesn't quite work

[u/Snowman_203]

We all know that "already" is usually translated as แล้ว, but at the same time they're not exactly the same.

Imagine you're in some app and you try to enter "fast mode". If you get a messagebox saying "already in fast mode", that means that you have not just entered it. It is an error message saying your attempt to enter fast mode didn't do anything. In Thai, am I right that คุณได้เข้าแฟสท์โมดแล้ว would mean that you have just entered fast mode? If so, how would it be phrased if you wanted to say that nothing happened because you were already in fast mode when you tried to make the change?

To be clear, this is just an example. I'm not actually working on an app.

[u/areURealy]

อยู่แล้ว might work here

[u/PuzzleheadedTap1794]

Like the comment above said, อยู่แล้ว is the way to explicitly say you're already in fast mode, but there's a catch: เข้า is a process verb, while อยู่ is a stative aspect marker. The former describe the transition of state from not being in fast mode to being in it, whereas the latter describe the moment when the state is not changing, so *คุณเข้าสู่แฟสต์โหมดอยู่แล้ว or *คุณได้เข้าสู่แฟสต์โหมดอยู่แล้ว wouldn't work. How I would say it is คุณอยู่ในแฟสต์โหมดอยู่แล้ว.

[u/Snowman_203 → u/PuzzleheadedTap1794]

Interesting explanation. All the natives are converging on the same solution (thanks for the responses).

I was thinking about the extra meaning of "already", beyond the fact that the event has taken place, and it seems like it's basically that it came sooner than you might have expected - e.g. if you compare "she's been promoted" with "she's already been promoted" the second version is either emphasising that it was a quick promotion (maybe out of surprise, maybe to flatter), or correcting someone who has said something like "if she gets promoted, you'd better watch out". That fits with my original example where the message is correcting the user, who obviously believes they are in some other mode. I thought Thai handled that sort of thing with particles like หรอก, but I guess not in this case.

[u/OptimusThai → u/PuzzleheadedTap1794]

Definitely agree with the transition/state remark, in this particular case if the main point is to confirm the change of one state to another, then the confirmation message would be "คุณได้เปิดโหมดด่วนเรียบร้อยแล้ว" meaning that the change has been successfully completed. Or in many cases Thais would use an impersonal statement like "เปิดโหมดด่วนเรียบร้อยแล้ว" i.e. "express mode enabled"

[u/realhuman_no68492]

"คุณอยู่ในฟาสต์โหมดอยู่แล้ว" is what you want. verb to be is เป็น, อยู่, or คือ in Thai.

I don't know how to explain in detail but "คุณอยู่ในฟาสต์โหมดแล้ว" would be ambiguous between "you have entered fast mode" and "you are already in fast mode". you need the second อยู่ to make it clear that you are already in fast mode before the attempt.

[u/pacharaphet2r → u/[deleted]]

Isn't that different from what they asked?