Bulgarian: току-що vs тъкмо

[Evo900]

Здрасти!

I am trying to understand whether there is a difference in usage between току-що and тъкмо, both meaning "just" as in "something just happened".

I asked several people and had several different answers. Some people suggest that in some contexts both can be used interchangeably, whereas in other contexts it has to be either one or the other. Others have said that they are perfectly interchangeable in all contexts, the difference only being a matter of style.

I've also heard that you can't use току-що for something that happened in the far past, or that you can only use тъкмо when there are two simultaneous actions as in ("in that moment...")

I'm trying to make a sense of all this

Here are some examples:

- Тъкмо/току-що щяхме да си тръгнем
- Тъкмо/току-що се бяхме прибрали, когато завали
- Тъкмо/току-що я видях в офиса си
- Тъкмо/току-що започнахме

Thanks for your insights!

 

[DarkChild]

Току-що is strictly for past events, things that already happened, a second or a minute ago. So I wouldn't use it in the first example which is future in the past.

Тъкмо has a wider usage. It can mean the same as току-що but it can mean things that are about to happen or are happening now.

Тъкмо си тръгвах
Тъкмо си тръгвам

 

[Evo900]

Thank you!

When you say that току-що is used for things that happened "a second or a minute ago", does that mean that it can't be used if the action took place a longer time ago?

For example, the sentence "току-що се бяхме прибрали, когато завали" could have taken place last week.

 

[DarkChild]

Thank you!

When you say that току-що is used for things that happened "a second or a minute ago", does that mean that it can't be used if the action took place a longer time ago?

For example, the sentence "току-що се бяхме прибрали, когато завалия" could have taken place last week.

Yes, this sentence is correct. Току-що describes an event that took place shortly before the action in the main clause. They got home just before it started raining.