义项
副词，表示某个动作在别的动作之前
Orders two actions in time: 先 the first, 再 or 然后 the second. 我们先吃饭，再去看电影 — the pair is what makes the sentence, and a 先 without its answering 再 usually sounds unfinished.
adverb表示暂时这样做
adverb你先走吧 does not mean "walk first" but "you go on ahead" — 先 makes an instruction provisional and therefore polite. 我先说一下 opens a remark the same way.
例句
- 你先走吧，我还有事情。你先走吧，我還有事情。Nǐ (third tone, dipping) xiān (first tone, high and level) zǒu (third tone, dipping) ba, (neutral tone) wǒ (third tone, dipping) hái (second tone, rising) yǒu (third tone, dipping) shìqing. (fourth tone, falling)···
You go on ahead — I still have things to do.
- 我们先吃饭，再去看电影。我們先吃飯，再去看電影。Wǒmen (third tone, dipping) xiān (first tone, high and level) chīfàn, (first tone, high and level) zài (fourth tone, falling) qù (fourth tone, falling) kàn (fourth tone, falling) diànyǐng. (fourth tone, falling)···
Let’s eat first and go to the cinema afterwards.
常见错误
不太对我吃饭先。
正确我先吃饭。
Chinese adverbs never trail after the verb the way "first" does in English. 先 goes between the subject and the verb, and stays there in every sentence it appears in.