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Pimsleur's Mandarin course teaches "I'm leaving very early tomorrow morning" as:
我明天早上很早就走 (wŏ míngtiān zăoshàng hĕn zăo jiù zŏu)
It says that 就 (jiù) doesn't have a corresponding meaning in English, but, frustratingly, that's all it says about it.
What is the role of 就 in this sentence, and how is it needed and used in a more general sense in Mandarin?
Since 就 is a construct that has many meanings, I'm only going to concentrate on your sentence.
In your sentence it will give emphasis that it is really early. You can also write: 我明天早上很早走 but this lacks the emphasis 我明天早上很早就走 has. And the latter construction will be used much more than the former.
Some similar constructions:
It is used for actions (after the 就). You have the structure A就B and B will be done after A is done.
就 can be used to say that one thing comes immediately or very soon after the other. For example 我明天吃了早饭就走: Tomorrow, I will immediately leave after having eaten breakfast.
In this type of sentence you normally have a verb before the 就 and when after the 就. Although there is no verb in 我明天早上很早就走, it is actually the same kind of structure and you can understand it the same. Immediately after "早上很早" you'll leave.
The opposite of this 就 is 才 (another word with many meanings). There you emphasize that something happened really or rather late. For example 我十一点才起床了： I only got out of bed at 11.
I am a Taiwanese but not a trained Chinese teacher, my explanation might not be academically correct :p.
First let me explain what changes with 就. Adding 就 emphasises the fact by making the tone sounds stronger, try read it out and feel the difference. It's a word you can say it with more strength, heavily, louder, tones up. Without it sometimes there is no place in the sentence to put the power. I will know you want me to be noticed that you are leaving early tomorrow.
Second, the effect of 就 varies depending on the reason you want to emphasise it and depending on the following or the followed statements. Maybe you don't like this place so you want to take the very first train to leave, or maybe you want me to send the kids to school because you won't be available tomorrow morning, or you are going to bed early tonight because you are leaving early tomorrow, or when you say it with no explicit reason it makes me feel you are expecting me to ask why.
The Chinese Grammar Wiki has a page on expressing earliness with 就.
In English this might be expressed with "as early as", but usually it's not specifically marked.
- 我们 早上 九点 上课，可是 他 八点 就 来了。
- 她 十八 岁 就 大学 毕业 了。
- 我们 上次 出去 玩，他 九点 就 回去 了。
- 我 五 点 钟 就 到 了 饭馆，你 让 我 等 这么 久，罚 你 请客！
From the example sentences it is clear that 了 naturally occurs with a verb used after 就. This is because verbs following 就 generally have the feeling of being completed.
If you're interested in the many other uses of 就, they have several related pages.
In this context, 就 has the English meaning of will as in:
I will be leaving very early tomorrow morning.
According to Baidu, 就 has many usages. Although Baidu has stated that just is the English word, I believe that will is more appropriate as in the following commonly used phrases:
就会 - will be
就能 - will be able to
就可 - will be able to
可 "am able to (now)" and future would be 就可 "will be able to"?
– Cocowalla
Aug 1 '12 at 11:54
