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"I just saw Sue yesterday/last week."

How can we translation this, especially the word "just"? Can it be translated directly with juste?

J'ai juste vu Sue hier/la semaine dernière.

Or should we use venir+de? I'm not sure if it should only be used for more recent past like an hour ago?

Je viens de voir Sue hier/la semaine dernière.

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Juste has several functions (adjective, adverb, noun) and meanings. Here it can be used to mean seulement or précisément.

  • Juste might mean seulement et exactement (only and precisely):

Je l'ai vue juste hier / juste la semaine dernière. (colloquial)

Je n'ai vu Sue qu'hier / que la semaine dernière. (i.e. I didn't saw her before or after).

  • You can also use juste to mean the event happened in the very close past, almost the present:

Je viens juste de voir Sue.

You cannot use the same expression if the event is older. In this context, one day or one week are not compatible with venir juste.

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  • Can "juste" in "Je l'ai vue juste hier / juste la semaine dernière" mean "recently" instead of "precisely/only"?
    – user11550
    Dec 3, 2016 at 21:09
  • That's very unlikely.
    – jlliagre
    Dec 3, 2016 at 21:48
  • Is there anyway to say "I just saw Sue yesterday", putting the emphasis that I saw her recently?
    – user11550
    Dec 3, 2016 at 22:24
  • J'ai vu Sue pas plus tard qu'hier ! PS: Sue is an extremely rare first name in France.
    – jlliagre
    Dec 4, 2016 at 16:29
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I would totally skip the 'just/juste in both English and French'.

I saw Sue yesterday/last week.

J'ai vu Sue hier/la semaine dernière.

Just/juste are not really formal.

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  • Exactly. Does it really make sense to use "just" if it's yesterday, or last week ? I know it's idiomatic, but it's really not necessary so it's dropped in French. "J'ai vu Sue hier/la semaine dernière" means exactly what you want.
    – Teleporting Goat
    Dec 4, 2016 at 1:45

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