就要⋯⋯了

jiù yào …… le

Expressing "about to" with "jiuyao"

就要…了 says something is about to happen, usually with a countdown attached.

(还有 + Time Period +) 就要 + Verb + 了

How it works

还有五天就要放假了 — five more days and the holiday starts. 就要 takes a specific time frame in a way 快要 does not.

The closing 了 is required. 快要…了 and 快…了 are the looser variants, used when there's no explicit countdown.

Examples

  • hái yǒu wǔ tiān jiù yào fàng jià le

    还有五天就要放假了。

    Five more days and the holidays start.

  • huǒ chē jiù yào kāi le

    火车就要开了。

    The train's about to leave.

  • tā jiù yào bì yè le

    他就要毕业了。

    He's about to graduate.