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I'm practicing with the words 以前 and 以后.
Using the word 以前, I came up with this sentence:

我一分钟以前刚刚看到他！

My English intention was to make this sentence:

I just saw him a minute ago!

I was told the format of using this word with time words was this:
time word + 以前 + following action
So to break up the sentence I made:
[我]一分钟 + 以前 + 刚刚看到他
I'm not sure if 刚刚 is actually separate from 以前.

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  • 一分钟之前 and 刚刚 create some dissonance.
    – imrek
    Commented Dec 5, 2015 at 21:40
  • 刚刚 is superfluous, but can be used.
    – user4452
    Commented Dec 5, 2015 at 22:46
  • change 刚刚 to 刚 and change 以前 to 前.
    – Daniel Yang
    Commented Dec 6, 2015 at 5:24

2 Answers 2

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Native Taiwanese here. This is what I would say: 

我一分钟以前*才刚*看到他

"才剛" corresponds to the "just" in your English sentence.

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2

Sure, but you'd better use 之前 in this case.

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  • jukuu has at least one example with 分钟以前:s2. I ordered ten minutes ago 我10 分钟以前就点菜了, on the other hand 分钟之前 is more common, but just 几分钟前 seems most common
    – user6065
    Commented Dec 5, 2015 at 21:20
  • @user6065 之前 goes better with 刚. It does not sound native enough to say 这是我10分钟以前刚点的菜. It's more natural to say 这是我10分钟之前刚点的菜.
    – user58955
    Commented Dec 6, 2015 at 8:34

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