Just happened (recién)

To say that an action "just" happened, speakers in many parts of Latin America use the adverb recién paired with a conjugated verb.

While you may already know acabar de + infinitive, placing recién directly before a past tense (preterite) verb is an extremely common, everyday alternative.

The foreman just arrived at the camp.
El capataz recién llegó al campamento.
I just cut the log with the saw.
Recién corté el tronco con la sierra.
We just cut this wood in the sawmill.
Recién cortamos esta madera en el aserradero.
The workers just cut down this very tall pine.
Los obreros recién talaron este pino altísimo.