---
title: "首先 (shǒuxiān) in Chinese Grammar: First (of all), With Examples"
description: "首先 (shǒuxiān): first (of all); to begin with. 首先 … 其次/然后 … 最后: orders points or steps. 2 real lines from stories, each word explained."
canonical: "https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/shouxian"
author: "Mandarin The Wild"
---

[Chinese grammar](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar)

# 首先 shǒuxiān

First (of all); to begin with

喜鹊xǐquèmagpie

首先 … 其次/然后 … 最后: orders points or steps.

## In stories

很多人**首先**想到的是学习：作业多，看书的时间长，书离眼睛又太近。

The first thing many people think of is study: lots of homework, long hours of reading, and books held too close to the eyes.

[一半的孩子戴眼镜 · Why do so many Chinese children wear glasses?](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/why-do-so-many-chinese-children-wear-glasses#library-word-134-136) HSK 4

张昭**首先**发难：“听说刘豫州三顾茅庐，才请得先生出山，自以为如鱼得水。

Zhang Zhao opened the attack: "We hear Liu of Yu Province visited your thatched cottage three times before he could bring you out, and thinks having you is like a fish finding water.

[舌战群儒 · Zhuge Liang Against the Scholars](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/zhuge-liang-against-the-scholars-three-kingdoms-advanced-chinese-11#library-word-81-83)

## Your turn

Write your own sentence with 首先. It's checked, and you'll see if the pattern is there.

[Read 一半的孩子戴眼镜](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/why-do-so-many-chinese-children-wear-glasses#library-word-134-136)

## More patterns

- [先…，再/然后… first …, then …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/xian-comma-zai)
- [把 + object + verb do something to … (and it ends up changed)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/ba)
- [verb + 得 + complement says how something is done (how well, how much, with what result)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-de-c)
- […的时候 when …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/de-shihou)
- [verb (+ 了) + duration (for how long) for … (how long … lasts)](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/duration)
- [verb1 + 着 + verb2 (doing 2 while/by doing 1) do something while …; do it by …](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar/v-zhe-v)

## Now read them in a real story

[**十两饺子**How to order dumplings in ChineseHSK 1 · 1 minRead it free](https://mandarinthewild.com/library/read/how-to-order-dumplings-in-chinese)

## What does 首先 (shǒuxiān) mean in Chinese?

First (of all); to begin with. 首先 … 其次/然后 … 最后: orders points or steps.

## How common is 首先?

It comes up in 2 readings of the 462 stories and articles in our free Library.

## Does it correct my mistakes?

The finder doesn’t: it shows which patterns a text uses and what each one does. To have a sentence you wrote corrected, with each mistake explained, use the Chinese grammar checker.

## More free tools

- [Chinese grammar checker](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-grammar-checker): your mistakes fixed
- [Chinese dictionary](https://mandarinthewild.com/chinese-dictionary)
- [Measure words](https://mandarinthewild.com/measure-words)
- [How hard is this text?](https://mandarinthewild.com/text-level)
- [Free Chinese stories](https://mandarinthewild.com/library)

Patterns found by our own parser; lines from our free Library.