Kilo Lingo

Ch 10 · Lesson 8

Yi jiu

Prescribed by the AQA specification.

The short version

(yī) before one verb, (jiù) before the next

，。Tā yì lái, wǒmen jiù zǒu.

The moment he comes, we leave.
Why?

For 'as soon as', put (yī) right before the first action and (jiù) right before the second: (wǒ yì huí jiā jiù chī fàn). The subject comes before (yī), and a different second subject comes before (jiù): (tā yì lái), (wǒmen jiù zǒu). Keep the (jiù): (wǒ yì huí jiā chī fàn) is broken.

(le) decides: once, or whenever

。Wǒ yí lèi jiù xiǎng huí jiā.

Whenever I'm tired, I want to go home.
Why?

With (le) at the very end, (yī)… (jiù) reports one event straight after another: (tā yì huí jiā jiù shuì le), he went to sleep as soon as he got home. Without (le) it states a habit: (wǒ yí lèi jiù xiǎng huí jiā), whenever I'm tired I want to go home. Do not end the first half with (le).

That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.

Read the full article · 4 min read

Practice

Practise this lesson

10-question session

One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 15 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.

Lesson 8 of 16 in this chapter

Back to the curriculum

What do the colours mean?