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The adverbs “才cái” and “就jiù” both means “ just” in English.
When “才cái” and “就jiù” are placed after the time words.
★ 才(cái) is usually collocate with a verb, indicating that in the speaker’s opinion, the action happened late, or went on slow or unsatisfactorily.
For example:
⭐ 8diǎn shàngkè，tā 9diǎn cái dào.
8点上课，他9点才到。
The class starts at 8:00, but he didn’t arrived until 9:00.
（--to emphasis the speaker think he arrived “late”）
⭐ Wǒ yòng le liǎngge xiǎoshí cái zuòwán zuòyè.
我用了两个小时才做完作业。
It took me two hours to finish my homework.
（--to emphasis I finished my homework “slow”）
⭐ Zhège tí tàinánle，wǒ huāle 1ge xiǎoshí cái zhīdào dá’àn 。
这个题太难了，我花了1个小时才知道答案。
This question is too hard,it took me 1 hour to work out the answer.
（--to indicate that the speaker think it is not easy to work out the answer.）
But........
就(jiù) can collocate with a verb too, but always indicating that in the speaker’s opinion, the action happened early, or went on fast or smoothly, and “了” is often placed at the end of the sentence.
For example:
⭐ 8diǎn shàngkè，tā 7diǎn jiù dào le
8点上课，他7点就到了。
The class starts at 8 am, but he arrived at 7:00.
（--to indicate the speaker think he came “early”）
⭐ Wǒ mèimei yòng le 15fēnzhōng jiù zuòwánle zuòyè 。
我妹妹用了15分钟就做完了作业。
It just took 15 mins to finish my homework.
（--to emphasis she finished her homework “fast”）
⭐ Nǐ yīzhí wǎngqiánzǒu jiù kěyǐ zhǎodào Zhōngguóyínháng le 。
你一直往前走就可以找到中国银行了。
Go straight then you will find the Bank of China easily.
(--to emphasis its easy to find the bank).
才(cái) and 就(jiù) can be used in a sentence together indicating comparison.
才(cái) indicates a smaller quantity, extent, or a low ability.
就(jiù) indicates a large quantity, extent, or a high ability.
In this case:
⭐ Nǐ mǎi le 10běn shū cái huā le 200 kuài , wǒ mǎi le yī běn shū jiù huā le 200kuài 。
你买了10本书才花了200 块, 我买了一本书就花了200块。
You only paid 200 for 10 book ,but I paid 200 for one book.
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