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How to Say ‘First’ in Simplified Chinese

xiān

[shyen]

💬 Usage Tip: [先] goes before the action to mean '[first]' or '[for now]': [先看看], [先订一桌]. It's useful when you want one step done before anything else.

Phrase Breakdown

xiān

[shyen]

first; for now

Used to say you want to do something before anything else.

Example

我先看看特别菜单。

I'll first take a look at the special menu.

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