才 — Adverb before the verb: the action has only just happened, barely a moment back, with the next event riding in right on its heels.

TSUMUGU · TBCL 3 (est.) · 語法

才 grammar point · tier 1 · 才 just now / only just (the prior event has barely landed)

· cái

Adverb before the verb: the action has only just happened, barely a moment back, with the next event riding in right on its heels.

Hook inherited from 才.

Adverb before the verb

框 · Frame

[subj] 才 [verb A]，就 [verb B]

觸 · Trigger

The first event has barely finished and the next is already on top of it.

序 · The move

1Place the action that has only just happened, with 才 before its verb.Does 才 sit before the verb, not before the subject?

2Bring the next event in right behind it, often with 就.Does the second event land before the listener would expect, on the heels of the first?

3Read it back for freshness.Does verb A read as barely-just-done, not as long-finished?

例 · Examples

1他才only just出門step out the door，就right then開始下雨了it started raining。

He had only just stepped out the door when it started to rain.

界 · Boundary

就1

This 才 dates verb A to a moment barely past (only just stepped out); 就 dates verb B to right after, the consequence already arriving. They mark different verbs in the sentence, not rival readings of one.

才 (later-than-expected)

The other 才 says the step came later than expected, still slow to arrive (等到八點他才來). This 才 says the step came only a moment ago, fresh and barely done. Success: 才 stamps verb A as just-now. Failure: 才 stamps verb A as overdue — wrong point.

他出門才，就開始下雨了。 → 他才出門，就開始下雨了。 (才 sits before the verb 出門, not after it)

他才出門了，就開始下雨了。 → 他才出門，就開始下雨了。 (no 了 on the barely-done verb A under 才)

他剛才出門很久，就開始下雨。 → 他才出門，就開始下雨了。 (才 marks the moment as fresh; a long gap contradicts it)

English 'just' floats and can stack ('he just only just left'); Chinese 才 is fixed before the verb and carries the just-now sense alone, no extra adverb needed.