Expressing earliness with "jiu"

Revision as of 02:39, 19 October 2011 by Jonathan.pope (talk | contribs)

Just as 才 can express lateness, 就 can be used to indicate that something happened earlier than expected. The structure is:

Subject + Time + 就 + Verb + Object

In English this might be expressed with "as early as", but usually it's not specifically marked.

Some examples:

  • 我们 早上 九点 上课,可是 他 八点 来了。
  • 她 十八 岁 大学 毕业 了。
  • 我们 上次 出去 玩,他 九点 回去 了。
  • 我 五 点 钟 到 了 饭馆,你 让 我 等 这么 久,罚 你 请客!

From the example sentences it is clear that 了 naturally occurs with a verb used after 就. This is because verbs following 就 generally have the feeling of being completed.

Sources and further reading

Websites