I have almost certainly mentioned this in a past lesson, but I was mixing up the words さっき and 先（さき） for the first three or four years of using Japanese.

The simple distinction:

さっき means "a little while ago."
先（に） means "before (something else)."

So if you leave to go home before your classmate or coworker, you can say:

お先に失礼します。
おさきに　しつれい　します。
Well, I'll be going, then...
Literally: "before + rude + do."
Note: This is pretty much a set phrase... making it pretty hard to translate naturally. Adding the honorific お in the front is standard.

On the other hand, if you wanted to say that you ate just a little while ago, you'd say...

さっき食べた。
さっき　たべた。
I just ate.
Literally: "a little while ago + ate."

Annndddd, that's not what I want to talk about today. I just got distracted because one of the words we'll be looking at in this lesson is さっき.

Today, I want to talk about saying...

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TIME + の + NOUN

Explaining is draining. So let's just look at examples...

今の人、どっかで見たことある気がする。
いま　の　ひと、　どっか　で　みた　こと　ある　き　が　する。
I feel like I've seen that person (we just saw) somewhere before.
Literally: "now + の + person, + somewhere + で + have seen + feel like."
Note: Super Literally, that last part is: "have seen (= saw + thing + have) + feel like (= spirit + が + do)."

You know how we say things like "that guy (just now)" or "that sound (just now)" in English?

In Japanese, they say this with "今のTHING."

Literally, I guess we could say "now's thing."

Maybe you'd understand me in English if I said..."I feel like I've seen just now's person somewhere before."

Let's hope so, because they say this all the time in Japanese.

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So you know how I used to mix up さっき and 先？

Well, apparently Rei mixes up 今の and さっきの.

That is, according to other people.

For example, she might say:

さっきの人、どっかで見たことある気がする。
さっき　の　ひと、　どっか　で　みた　こと　ある　き　が　する。
I feel like I've seen that person (we saw earlier) somewhere before.
Literally: "a little while ago + の + person, + somewhere + で + have seen + feel like."

That's a correct sentence. But it's only correct if the speaker and listener saw "that person" a little while ago. As in, five or ten minutes ago.

But Rei often finds herself using a sentence like this even though she may have only seen "that person" ten or fifteen seconds before, which would warrant the use of 今の人 instead of さっきの人.

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Now, I don't think this grammar is too complicated, as it's just "TIME の NOUN."

However! It may take a while to get a feel for starting sentences like this... especially if you're still thinking in English when you speak Japanese (or, for many of us, if we're not speaking Japanese at all!).

As such, here are several examples. I've highlighted the "TIME の NOUN" part...

今の何？
いま　の　なに？
What was that (just now)?
Literally: "now + の + what?"
Note: Foolishly, one of my first examples is dropping the "THING" that comes after の... because the speaker doesn't know what it is or because it's obvious from context. It's like saying "now + の + (THING) + what?"

さっきのレストランおいしかったね！
さっき　の　れすとらん　おいしかった　ね！
That restaurant (we just went to) was good, wasn't it?
Literally: "a little while ago + の + restaurant + was delicious + ね！"

さっきの店員さん超失礼だった。
さっき　の　てんいん　ちょう　しつれい　だった。
That employee (from earlier) was so rude.
Literally: "a little while ago + の + shop member -さん + so / super- + rude + was."

昨日の『ジェパディ』見た？
きのう　の　『じぇぱでぃ』　みた？
Did you watch last night’s Jeopardy?
Literally: "yesterday + の + Jeopardy + watched / saw?"

昨日の飲み会楽しかったね。
きのう　の　のみかい　たのしかった　ね。
Yesterday’s (drinking) party was fun, wasn't it?
Literally: "yesterday + の + drinking party + was fun + ね."

去年の夏はバリに行った。
きょねん　の　なつ　は　ばり　に　いった。
I went to Bali last summer.
Literally: "last year + の + summer + は + Bali + に + went."

このシリアル、去年のじゃん！
この　しりある、きょねん　の　じゃん！
This cereal is from last year!
Literally: "this + cereal, + last year + の + じゃん！(= isn't it?!)"
Note: Ah! Contractions! Here the "NOUN" after の is getting removed thanks to our good friend Context-さん. In other words, it would be redundant to say 去年のシリアル, because we just said シリアル. So it gets dropped.

Hope you enjoyed today's comparatively short lesson. I predict that it won't be long at all until you hear this being used by Japanese speakers. ^_^