Chinese characters Jiu (就, pinyin: jiù) is one of the most frequently use characters in Mandarin Chinese language. The character has numerous meanings. No wonder, it’s often confusing to my students to understand the nuances of using Jiu.

Welcome to Ming Mandarin’s free online Mandarin Chinese lessons. In this lesson, we will learn how to say Jiu (how to use 就; how to say just) in Chinese with pinyin and simplified characters.

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Well, one of the common meanings of 就 (jiù) is “just”. However, “just” is literally just one of the interpretations of this versatile character. There are simply too many meanings of 就.

How to Use Chinese Character Jiu (就, jiù)?

Let’s look at the example sentences and pinyin.

#1. Jiu right before a verb: Jiu (就, jiù)+Verb

We can put 就 before a verb to emphasize the verb.

Question

• Who is Josh?
• Josh shì shéi?
• Josh 是谁？

Answer

• It’s me (I am Josh).
• jiù shì wǒ.
• 就是我。

#2. Jiu as an adverb: Only (就, jiù)

• Tian’anmen Square is not far from here. It just took 5 minutes to walk to there.
• Tiān’ānmén guǎngchǎng lí zhèr bù yuǎn, zǒulù wǔ fēnzhōng jiù dào le.
• 天安门广场离这儿不远，走路五分钟就到了。

#3. Jiu as an adverb: Soon, Immediately, Right Away (就, jiù)

Example sentence 1

• Wait a moment, I will go right away.
• Děng yíxià, wǒ jiù zǒu.
• 等一下, 我就走。

Example sentence 2

• Wait for me, I will come soon.
• Děng wǒ yíxià, wǒ jiù lái.
• 等我一下，我就来。

#4. “jiu…le/jiuyao… le”

The structure “jiu…le” and “jiuyao… le” have the same meaning (as in #3).

Example sentence 1

• The winter is coming soon.
• 冬天就要来了。
• Dōngtiān jiùyào lái le.

Example sentence 2

• The Spring Festival is coming soon.
• 春节就要来了。
• Chūnjié jiùyào lái le.

#5. Jiu after the time word (就, jiù)

Jiu in this situation explains an action that just happened earlier than expected:

• I arrived the company at 9am.
• Wǒ zǎoshang 9 diǎn jiù dào gōngsī le.
• 我早上9点就到公司了。

#6. Jiu as a conjugation word: Then (就, jiù)

• As long as (if) you study hard, (then) you will certainly succeed.
• Zhǐyào nǐ nǔlì xuéxí, nǐ jiù yídìng néng chénggōng.
• 只要你努力学习，你就一定能成功。

The structure “…le…jiu…” has the same meaning, however, in Chinese, this structure indicates two actions that occurred successively.

• Yesterday I went home, then slept immediately.
• Zuótiān wǒ huíle jiā jiù shuìjiào.
• 昨天我回了家就睡觉。

Jiu: Extra Use Cases

Here are more examples of using Jiu in Mandarin Chinese:

Preposition (介词, jiè cí)

1. On (上, 关于, 于, 上面, 上边)
2. Concerning (关于)

Adverb (副词, fù cí)

1. With regard
2. Right away (马上, 就, 当即, 当时)
3. At once (立刻, 马上, 登时, 就, 当即, 赶快)
4. Right off (马上, 就, 当即, 当时)
5. Then (然后, 接着, 则, 于是, 当时)
6. Already (已经, 已, 既, 曾经, 曾)
7. Only (只有, 仅, 只, 唯一, 只是)

Conjunction (连词, lián cí)

1. As soon as
2. As early as
3. That
4. Should (该)
5. Because (因为)

Verb (动词, dòng cí)

1. Undertake (承担, 承办, 从事, 保证, 担当, 就)
2. Move towards (走向, 迎)
3. Approach (逼近, 来临, 助跑, 迫近, 靠拢)
4. Enter (进入, 进, 入, 晋)