Not again = pas encore

Question

I can't figure this out: When does "pas encore" mean not again?

If I search on google translate or deepl or reverso context for example, all translations of "not again" are "pas encore".

Why? if it is supposed to be incorrect.

Accepted Answer

Hi Mark,
Please take a look at my answer to this very question a few years ago.
I would answer in exactly the same way today.
https://french.kwiziq.com/questions/view/how-do-you-say-not-again-in-french-then
Hope it helps!

Answer

Hm, for me Deepl translates "Pas encore." as "Not yet.", which is correct. Only Google and reverso translate it as "Not again." which is wrong. ChatGPT also gets this right.

To express "Not again!" you would say "Encore?!". See https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/questions/view/how-do-you-say-not-again-in-french-then.

However, how does one in general translate "not again"?

E.g. "I did not do that again."

Based partly on Deepl and https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/not-again.851942/ I would say:

"Je n'ai pas recommencé."
"Je ne l'ai pas refait." (re+verb can be used for quite a few verbs)

Any input appreciated.

Answer

Hi, thanks. What I did was to ask it to translate "not again" in french, not the other way around. Maybe that explains why deepl gave different results.

I thought Reverso Context is based on putting translated sources together, which tells me that someone is indeed extensively using "pas encore!" for "not again!". That that is wrong, I understand, but that this mistake is so pervasive is quite puzzling.

Anyway, it is how it is.