Dictionary / I just ate
How to Say "I just ate" in French
Je viens de manger
/ʒə vjɛ̃ də mɑ̃.ʒe/
Literally: I come from eating
Je
I
viens
come
de
from
manger
to eat
Good to know
Neutral and very common in speech. Je viens tout juste de manger adds the emphasis of only just.
Correct
Je viens de manger
What people say wrong
Je juste ai mangé
not a French construction
The mistake to avoid. French has no adverb that does the work of just. Learners look for one, fail to find it, and produce je juste ai mangé, which is not French in any register. The construction is venir de plus an infinitive, literally I come from eating, and it covers anything that happened moments ago: je viens d'arriver, il vient de partir. Once you see it as a verb phrase rather than a missing word, the whole pattern becomes available at once.
In context
Non merci, je viens de manger.
No thanks, I've just eaten.
Elle vient d'arriver.
She's just arrived.
On vient de finir.
We've just finished.