Chinese word

刚

Pronunciation

Pinyingāng

Meaning

  • adverbjust

Example

我刚看到他。wǒ gāng kàn dào tā

I just saw him.

Illustration for 刚 (just)

More examples

我们刚开始上课。wǒ men gāng kāi shǐ shàng kè

We just started class.

Core concept

A point in time that has barely passed.

Common phrases

  • 刚才gāng cái

    just now

  • 刚吃完gāng chī wán

    just finished eating

  • 刚开始gāng kāi shǐ

    just started

Similar words

刚刚gāng gāng: Marks an action or event as occurring only moments ago.
刚才gāng cái: Refers to a particular time a little earlier than now.
才cái: Shows that an action or event happened later than expected.
已经yǐ jīng: Shows that an action or state was completed before a stated or understood time.

Definition in Chinese

表示动作或状态发生在现在前一瞬间，突出时间上非常接近的一刻，口语中常见biǎo shì dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài fā shēng zài xiàn zài qián yí shùn jiān tū chū shí jiān shàng fēi cháng jiē jìn de yí kè kóu yǔ zhōng cháng jiàn

Word origin

刚 (gāng, "just") is the simplified form of 剛 (gāng, "hard and strong"), and its later time use marks an event immediately before now.

Usage tips

  • English uses just for recent time, limitation, and emphasis, but this adverb mainly marks recent time and usually appears before the verb.

Opposites

Related words

Word lists with this word