"I have just wanted to ask a question."
I was told above sentence is not valid and natural to refer recent past and "just" cannot mean here "very recently".( Recent past usage of present perfect tense) Because "wanted to ask" denotes a state not an action therefore it doesn't mean an observable completed event where there is a start and finish.
Therefore the sentence " I have just wanted to ask a question" only means a situation where "wanted to ask" has been continuing for some time to the present and "just" means "simply" or "only".
Can you explain if this is true?
Only rule with regard to stative verbs in English is they shouldn't be used with progressive tenses. I haven't come accross any information that explain my example in any English teaching material even in present perfect tense subject.
Best Answer
Whoever told you that was oversimplifying a bit. (And the idea that statives can't be used with progressive tenses is also oversimplified, as I stated in an answer there.)
It's true that in this sort of case, "just" is almost certainly used to mean "only" instead of "recently". But stative verbs in English simply aren't that hard-and-fast a category, so there's a bit of wiggle room that could allow someone to use "just" in an unusual way for wordplay. This is especially true because the idiomatic way to mean "only" is
I think this is because "just", in the sense of "very recently", makes less sense to use with something in the more distant past, which tends to make it more obvious that "only" is the correct meaning.
But using present perfect instead of past tense implies that there's some present relevance: that maybe you still do want to ask the question. And that brings back up the possibility of meaning "very recently".
There is an unambiguous way to refer to the recent past using "just", though:
(At a time in the very immediate past, I had a particular desire, and probably still do.)
(Beginning in the very immediate past and continuing, I have had a particular desire.)
You should avoid using an unusual and ambiguous construction like "I have just wanted…" unless you have a very good reason. Either of the two possible meanings can be phrased more clearly.