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How are you this morning?

I’m fine, thanks! I just finished breakfast!

You said you just finished breakfast. What does that mean?

It means that I very recently finished breakfast - not hours ago, but in the very recent past. Notice that I used just with the simple past form of the verb finished.

You could also say “I have just finished breakfast.” (present perfect tense)

Yes! Both statements mean that in the very recent past I finished breakfast.

Just is one of those little words that we use in a lot of ways in English.

We use just with the past or present perfect tense to talk about something that recently or just happened, but we can also use just to talk about something that will happen in the immediate future. 

Yes! If I  say: "I am just going to call my mom and then I can go." Or “He is just finishing his homework.” I’m talking about something that will happen in the immediate future.

Notice that we use the present continuous tense or  “going to” when we’re using just to talk about the immediate future.

Those are two of the ways we use just to talk about time. There is another way that we use just when we are talking about time.  If we say just before, just after, just as, just when to talk about something that happened at about the same time that something else happened.

Can you give us some examples? 

Sure! “My brother called just after I went to bed.“  

“Just when John thought he was done, his boss told him to do one more thing.”

“Just before we got to the beach, it started to rain.”

“Just as I was starting to cook dinner, the power went off.”

We’ve talked about three ways we use just in relationship to time, are there other ways we use just? 

Yes! We also use just to mean only.  "I just have $5 in my wallet."

"I just have one egg and I need three eggs to make these cookies." " She just wanted to say “hello”."

And we also ;use just to mean exactly. ”My friend told me just what I needed to hear.”  “He is just the right person for that job.”

We have been talking about using just as an adverb.

We also use just as an adjective – a describing word  - to mean fair or honest. 

"The boss was always just. She treated everyone fairly. "

"The judge’s decision was just, although not everyone agreed with him."

It is that use of “just” that is the root of the word justice,  the noun that means fairness or equity.

Listen for the different ways we us  “just” in our phone conversation:

A: Hi! Are you busy ?“

B: Well,  I just got home.

A: Can you talk for just a minute?

B: Sure, but just for a minute. I need to start dinner.

A: I just wanted to tell you that I just heard about a great job. They just started accepting applications.

B: That just what I needed to hear.  I was just going to start applying for a new job. 

A: Well, this might be just the opportunity you have been waiting for.

B: I hope so!

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