～たばかり
just did
～たばかり says that an action happened only a moment or a short time ago. It is made by taking the た-form (plain past) of a verb and adding ばかり, and it matches English “have just done ...”.
1. Right after an action
Use ～たばかり to say something happened very recently.
日本に着いたばかりです。
“I have just arrived in Japan.”
- 日本（にほん）= Japan
- に = destination marker (in, at)
- 着いたばかり（ついたばかり）= have just arrived
- です = polite copula
2. Recent in the speaker's mind
Even something from last week or last month can take ～たばかり if the speaker feels it was only just now.
この時計は先週買ったばかりです。
“I just bought this watch last week.”
- この = this
- 時計（とけい）= watch, clock
- は = topic marker
- 先週（せんしゅう）= last week
- 買ったばかり（かったばかり）= just bought
- です = polite copula
How to form it
Verb た-form + ばかり
- 着く（つく）= to arrive → 着いたばかり（ついたばかり）= have just arrived
- 買う（かう）= to buy → 買ったばかり（かったばかり）= have just bought
- 始まる（はじまる）= to begin → 始まったばかり（はじまったばかり）= has just begun
Key idea
～たばかり stamps an action with the label “fresh”. What counts as “just now” is decided by how recent it feels to the speaker, not by the clock.
Other N4 grammar
Updated .