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Expressing "just now" with 刚才 (gāngcái)
HSK 2Aspect & Tense
Time Expressions
Structure
Subject + 刚才 + Verb
Explanation
The time noun 刚才 (gāngcái) refers to a moment in the very recent past, meaning "just now" or "a moment ago." It modifies the verb to indicate that an action happened only moments before the current time of speaking. For example, 他刚才还在这里 means "he was just here a moment ago."
Examples
刚才谁给我打电话了？
gāngcái shéi gěi wǒ dǎ diànhuà le?
Who just called me?
你刚才说的那个餐厅叫什么名字？
nǐ gāngcái shuō de nàge cāntīng jiào shénme míngzì?
What's the name of that restaurant you just mentioned?
刚才还是晴天，怎么突然下雨了？
gāngcái háishì qíngtiān, zěnme tūrán xiàyǔ le?
It was sunny just a moment ago — how did it suddenly start raining?