Sequential Compound Sentences: 先…再/然后

Chinese grammar · HSK 2 · 承接复句 · By Carson 木林森

Use 先…再/然后… to show two actions happening IN ORDER — first one thing, then the next.

先 xiān early 再 zài again; once more; re- 然后 rán hòu then; after that; afterwards

Pattern: 先 + Action 1, 再/然后 + Action 2

我先吃饭，再看电视。(I'll eat first, then watch TV.)
你先做作业，然后再玩游戏。(Do your homework first, then play games — 然后再 together = 'and then'.)

再 alone = 'then' (simple); 然后 = 'after that' (can combine as 然后再 for extra clarity). Both mark the SECOND action; 先 always marks the FIRST.

Worked examples

Chinese	Pinyin	English	What it shows
我先吃饭，再看电视。	Wǒ xiān chīfàn, zài kàn diànshì.	I'll eat first, then watch TV.	Minimal frame 先...再.
你先做作业，然后再玩游戏。	Nǐ xiān zuò zuòyè, ránhòu zài wán yóuxì.	Do your homework first, then play games.	Adds 然后 combined with 再 for the second clause.
他每天先起床，再洗脸，然后去上班。	Tā měitiān xiān qǐchuáng, zài xǐliǎn, ránhòu qù shàngbān.	Every day he gets up first, then washes his face, then goes to work.	Extends to THREE sequential actions in one sentence.

Produce this pattern without stopping to think about it. GraphChinese drills Sequential Compound Sentences across 13 exercises and schedules the review that keeps it.

What you need first

Every topic in GraphChinese names its own prerequisites, and these are the grammar points this one is built on. If a sentence here will not parse, one of them is why.

What this opens up

These patterns list Sequential Compound Sentences among their own prerequisites, so they become readable once this one holds.

Tight Compound

Sequential Compound Sentences is one topic of 829. GraphChinese teaches them in prerequisite order, so this pattern reaches you on the day everything it rests on is proven. The whole course, HSK 0 through HSK 6, is $49 once for lifetime access.

Start at your true level