Example sentences
wǒ我zhè这jiù就lái来。
I'm coming right now.
tā他yī一xià下bān班jiù就zǒu走。
He leaves right after work.
The story behind the character
就
就 pairs 京, a building on a high mound, with 尤. Xu Shen wrote 就, 就高也: to head for the high ground. So 就 began as a verb about moving toward something and up onto it. The grammar sense, then, right away, grew out of that idea of arriving. When you say 我就来, you are still climbing toward the thing.