ESEN
Which one to use?Advancedstructurestructure
So farvsUntil now
'So far' and 'up to now' describe what has happened until now neutrally; 'until now' implies something is about to change.
Side-by-side comparison
So far
structure"So far" and "up to now" are used with the present perfect to talk about what has happened until this moment, with the possibility of things changing in the future.
So far this year I have read five books, my goal is to reach ten by December.
The course has been great so far, we have covered a lot of ground in just two weeks.
Up to now, nobody has complained about the new schedule, which is a good sign.
Until now
structure"So far" is more colloquial and informal; "up to now" is slightly more formal. You can use either in most contexts without any difference in meaning.
Until now she had always walked to work, but she just bought a bike and plans to cycle.
Up until now there was no café in the village, but a new one opened last month.
Until now I had never tried sushi, but I finally gave it a go and absolutely loved it.
Common mistake
- •The classic error: treating "so far" and "until now" as perfect synonyms.
- •"Until now, the approach was manual.
- •From today it is automated", here "until now" is more natural because the sentence explicitly states the change (before/now contrast).
- •"So far, everything is fine", here "so far" is more natural because no change is announced.
- •Practical rule: if the next sentence says something changes = "until now." Describing the current state without announcing a change = "so far."
Trick to remember it
- •"So far" = timeline reaching the present, flat description (no change implied).
- •"Until now" = timeline reaching the present and then TURNING (a change is announced).
- •Change test: is there a "but now" / "from today" / "this will change" coming? = "until now." No explicit change? = "so far."
Quick rule
- •"So far / up to now" = neutral (the state until now, no change implied).
- •"Until now / up until now" = contrast (until now, but now it changes).
- •Both go with present perfect.
Did you know?
SO FAR, UNTIL NOW, UP TO NOW, and THUS FAR are what linguists call "temporal deictic anchors", expressions that only have meaning in relation to the exact moment of utterance. If you read "So far, the project is on track" in an email from five years ago, the sentence says nothing about the current state, only about the state when it was written. This property, called temporal deixis, is universal in human languages. Spanish encodes it with "hasta ahora," "hasta el momento," "a día de hoy." Mandarin frequently omits these explicit markers and lets context determine temporal reference, which can generate ambiguities in translation if the translator does not add them.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Pick the right one
_____ , everything has gone smoothly. Let's hope it continues.
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
_____ , she has passed every exam she has taken.
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Related word pairs
Simple pastvsPresent perfect
Simple past indicates a completed action at a specific past moment; present perfect connects the past to the present.
SincevsAgo
'Since' marks the starting point of something active until the present; 'ago' indicates distance into the past from now.
YetvsStill
'Yet' (negative/question) and 'already' (affirmative) express whether something has happened; 'still' expresses continuation.
AvsAn
'A' is used before consonant sounds; 'an' is used before vowel sounds.
Bryan López
Founder of SpeakUP Academy