To kickstart today’s lesson, I’d suggest you to do a character search on a random Chinese article that you can pull out from the Internet. Just search for Chinese character 就(jiù) in the article. I bet you’ll be able to find it, not once, possibly a lot.

No doubt this is a high frequency character. You might be able to translate it as “will” in one place, but under other circumstances, it is combined with other characters to render various meanings. For that reason, it’s worthwhile to have a whole lesson just for it.

First of all, a few new words to go through first:

kāi shǐ	kǎo shì	xià yǔ
开始 (start)	考试 (exam)	下雨 (rain)
qǔxiāo
取消 (cancel)

 

See if I can put its usages all together into one list:

• … will …    =>    … 就jiù(会huì, 要yào) + verb …
• … is …    =>   … 就是jiùshì… (emphasis on “is”)
• Once … then …    =>    … 就jiù + verb …
• right “where” …   or   right “when” …   =>   就在jiù zài

The easiest way to learn them is through examples. That gonna make our life easier… 🙂

 

… will …    =>    … 就(会, 要) + verb …

rúguǒ míngtiān xiàyǔ, yīnyuèhuì jiù huì qǔxiāo.

如果明天下雨, 音乐会就会取消.

If it rains tomorrow, the concert will be canceled.

 

… is …    =>   … 就是… (emphasis on “is”)

tā jiùshì xiǎo lǐ de mèimei.

她就是小李的妹妹.

She IS Xiao Li’s sister. (confirmed)

 

Once … then …    =>    … 就 + verb …

wǒ dàoliǎo nàr, yīnyuèhuì jiù kāishǐ le.

我到了那儿, 音乐会就开始了.

Once I arrived, the concert started.

 

… right “where” …   =>   就在

tā de jiā jiù zài zhèr.

他的家就在这儿.

His home is right here.

 

… right “when” …   =>   就在

tā de kǎoshì jiù zài zǎoshang.

他的考试就在早上.

His test was right in the morning.

 

“就”can also appear in compound words to form different meanings other than above.

Hope today’s lesson would help you to learn how to use this high frequency character in your own spoken or written Chinese.

Welcome to have my face to face lesson on http://www.verbling.com/teachers/dawei  !  🙂