How to use 就
Subj. + Time + 就 + Verb + 了
就 can evaluate an event as earlier or quicker than expected. A time expression commonly appears before 就, followed by the action or reached state. The speaker highlights the short wait or early timing relative to a practical expectation, rather than merely giving a neutral time stamp.
A future-oriented sentence may promise action soon or immediately, while a past setting reports something that happened early. Markers such as 了 depend on that larger construction and time reference. 早就 emphasizes that a situation was already true a long time before the current point of discussion. Compare 才 for an event treated as late: the contrast concerns the speaker's expectations as well as the actual clock time.
Examples with pinyin and English
我马上就来。
I'll be there in a second.
我们九点上课，他八点就来了。
We have class at nine, but he came in at eight.
你一个晚上就看完了？
It only took you just one night to finish reading it?
我早就知道了！
I knew that long ago!
What to remember
- Put the time expression before 就.
- Use context to distinguish past from future.
- 早就 highlights an already-established earlier situation.
Practise the pattern
Practise this topic with the app’s grammar exercises. Your answers and review dates are saved separately from vocabulary practice.
Practise this grammar topic ↗Look up the grammar words
Source and editorial notes
Explanation rewritten for Laowai. Examples are adapted from the Laowai English grammar curriculum, with editorial corrections where needed. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.