Translating “很快就有人去了.” ? Confusing word order Can anyone help me translate this sentence properly?
很快就有人去了.
My attempt is “Very quickly and soon, some people left.” However I don’t really understand the 很快就 part. Like i thought if these were modifying the verb, why are they in the beginning of the sentence before the noun 有人 ？And is 快 modifying 就？And what would be the purpose of that given that 就 just means “then...”?
很快就有人去了

This uses a variation of the grammar structure:

快 + Verb + 了
When using 快 ⋯⋯了 (kuài... le) with verbs, it takes on a meaning similar to the English &quot;just about to.&quot; Normally you can add 要 (yào) before the verb.
快⋯⋯了 (kuài... le) with Verbs, Chinese Grammar Wiki

In this case what's about to happen is 去 (&quot;to go&quot;), it's happening to 有人 (&quot;someone&quot;), and the 快 ⋯⋯了 (with the change of state 了) indicates it hasn't yet happened.  The 很 and 就 seem to add urgency to the sentence.  It can thus be translated to something like:

Someone will go very soon.

My impression is that it's better to put 有人 before the 快, such as in:

有人很快就学会了[src]
Some people will soon master [it].
喝啤酒时，为什么有人很快就上厕所[src]
When drinking beer, why [do] some people soon need to go to the toilet?

Other examples using this structure:

很快就有人发现了[src]
Someone soon discovered...
很快就有人可以取代你的位置[src]
Someone can take your place very soon.