Dictionary › 先前

先前

xiān qián

Old HSK 6 HSK 3.0 level 6 2-character word

先前 (xiān qián) means "before; previously". It is an HSK 3.0 level 6 word, and was HSK 6 in the old six-level list.

What 先前 means

1. before; previously

The characters in 先前

• 先xiānbeforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now
• 前qiánfront; forward; ahead

Example sentences

• 我先前在中国住了六个月。
  Wǒ xiānqián zài Zhōngguó zhù le liù gè yuè.
  I've lived in China for six months.
• 我们先前不知道要怎么做，所以才求助。
  Wǒmen xiānqián bù zhīdào yào zěnme zuò, suǒyǐ cái qiúzhù.
  We didn't know how to do it, so we asked for help.
• 不好意思，让我指出先前文章的三个错误。
  Bù hǎoyìsi, ràng wǒ zhǐchū xiānqián wénzhāng de sān gè cuòwù.
  Excuse me, let me point out three mistakes in the above article.

Where 先前 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of HSK 6 Vocabulary · xián–xiǎn (HSK 6), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 6 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read xiān qián correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.