Sentence pattern · Band 3
一……就……: as soon as
一 A 就 B
一 sets a tripwire: the moment this happens, that fires at once. The instant I got home, sleep; the minute he starts eating, out comes the phone. English says as soon as; Mandarin wires the two events with 一 up front and 就 as the instant response, no gap at all in between.
Hear it in a sentence
Mistakes people make
The tripwire event comes first and the instant reaction second; reversing them rewires the story.
了 closes at the very end; 就 stands bare and busy right before the second verb.
Words in this pattern
Quick answers
What does 一……就…… mean?
一 sets a tripwire: the moment this happens, that fires at once. The instant I got home, sleep; the minute he starts eating, out comes the phone. English says as soon as; Mandarin wires the two events with 一 up front and 就 as the instant response, no gap at all in between.
How do you build it?
一 A 就 B
What is the most common mistake?
我一睡觉就到家。 → 我一到家就睡觉。
The tripwire event comes first and the instant reaction second; reversing them rewires the story.
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