Dictionary › 首先

首先

shǒu xiān

Old HSK 4 HSK 3.0 level 4 2-character word

首先 (shǒu xiān) means "first (of all)". It is an HSK 3.0 level 4 word, and was HSK 4 in the old six-level list.

What 首先 means

1. first of all; in the first place

The characters in 首先

• 首shǒuhead; chief; first (occasion, thing etc)
• 先xiānbeforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now

Example sentences

• 首先，幸福跟钱有关系。
  Firstly, happiness is related to money.
• 首先，我们检查出勤情况。
  Shǒuxiān, wǒmen jiǎnchá chūqín qíngkuàng.
  Firstly, let's check the attendance.
• 首先，我要听听双方的意见。
  Shǒuxiān, wǒ yào tīngting shuāngfāng de yìjiàn.
  First, I should hear both sides.
• 首先，我想宣布几条新制度。
  Shǒuxiān, wǒ xiǎng xuānbù jǐ tiáo xīn zhìdù.
  In the first place, I would like to announce several new regulations.
• 首先我们必须处理这个问题。
  To begin with, we must tackle the problem.
• 首先，关闭手机，保持安静。
  First of all, power off your cellphones and remain silent.

Words containing 首先

• 不首先使用bù shǒu xiān shǐ yòngno first use (policy for nuclear weapons); NFU

Where 首先 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of Time adverbs & temporal expressions (HSK 4), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 4 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read shǒu xiān correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.