Lesson 5.1 Je viens

Can you please explain “je viens de goûter"? It is translated as “I just tasted ” but " je viens" is in the present tense.  And “je viens ” means  “ I come”.  Is this just a French idiom? Thank you.

Je viens de + location  == I come from (location)

ex. Je viens des États-Unis  == I come from the US

Je viens de + infinitive verb == I just (performed some action)

ex. Je viens de manger  == I just ate

The second usage is called the immediate past or recent past (le passé immédiat)

The usage is very common, so very useful to learn.

If you would like to see more examples or more discussion of venir de + infinitive, just Google, venir de + infinitive. One particularly cute example is:

Je viens des États-Unis et je viens de manger un hamburger ==

I come from the US and I just ate a hamburger

One other twist, which is prob. beyond the scope of your lessons so far : 

When venir is conjugated in the past imperfect tense (imparfait),

Je venais de + infinitive verb  == I had just (performed some action)

ex. Je venais de manger quand tu es arrivé == I had just eaten when you arrived.

If this last bit is confusing you, just ignore it for now.

THANK YOU for that explanation. It clarifies things for me. I very much appreciate your prompt response.