Definition
早就 is an adverb phrase meaning 'long ago' or 'already' — it emphasizes that an action or state occurred much earlier than the speaker expected or earlier than the listener might think. It always appears before the verb and carries a tone of 'as early as' or 'way back when'. Unlike 已经 (yǐjīng, 'already'), 早就 adds a sense of 'it's been that way for a long time'.
v.p.
long agoalready (emphasizing that something happened much earlier than expected)
Examples
- 早就。Tā zǎo jiù zhīdào zhè jiàn shì le.He knew about this long ago.
- 早就，。Wǒ zǎo jiù xiǎng xué shūfǎ le, dàn yìzhí méi shíjiān.I've wanted to learn calligraphy for a long time, but I never had the time.
- 早就，？Tāmen zǎo jiù jiéhūn le, nǐ zěnme hái bù zhīdào?They got married long ago — how come you still don't know?
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