先...后...
Reach for this when you want to put two actions in order — 'first do X, then do Y.' It is the cleanest way to sequence steps in Chinese: a recipe, an itinerary, a procedure, a back-and-forth in a conversation. 先 marks the first move; 后 (or 然后, 再) marks the second. Common in instructions, storytelling, and any situation where order matters.
Structure
先 [ACTION 1] 后 [ACTION 2]
xiān... hòu...
How to Think About It
先 and 后 are anchors of time, not events themselves — they stick onto verbs to mark sequence. The subject can be the same person doing two things in order, or two different people taking turns (小明先说, 小强后说). Spoken Chinese more often replaces 后 with 然后 or 再, but the 先... pole is fixed.
Examples
我先吃饭, 后洗碗。
Wǒ xiān chī fàn, hòu xǐ wǎn.
I eat first, then wash the dishes.
小明先说, 小强后说。
Xiǎo Míng xiān shuō, Xiǎo Qiáng hòu shuō.
Xiao Ming speaks first, Xiao Qiang speaks after.
我们先去北京, 后去上海。
Wǒmen xiān qù Běijīng, hòu qù Shànghǎi.
We'll go to Beijing first, then Shanghai.
Common Mistake
Learners place 先 and 后 after the verb, copying English 'eat first, then sleep.' In Chinese, both go BEFORE their verbs: 先吃, 后睡.
我吃先, 睡后。
我先吃, 后睡。
Don't Confuse With
先...再...
Same first half, but 再 instead of 后 sounds more natural in everyday speech. 先洗手再吃饭 is what a parent actually says; 先...后... feels slightly more written.
先...然后...
Spoken default. 然后 is 'and then' — the most common second-half partner in conversation. 后 on its own is the shorter, tighter cousin.
以后
以后 means 'after' as a time reference ('after eating, after work'), not a sequencing word inside a pair. Don't swap it for 后 in this pattern.
Practice
我 ___ 写作业, 后看电视。
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先
小明先说, 小强 ___ 说。
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后
Arrange: [先 / 后 / 我 / 睡觉 / 吃饭]
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我先吃饭, 后睡觉。
Translate to Chinese: 'I'll wash my hands first, then eat.'
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我先洗手, 后吃饭。
Write one sentence using 先...后... about your morning routine.
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Example answer: 我先刷牙, 后吃早饭。 (I brush my teeth first, then eat breakfast.)
Hear It in Real Episodes
This pattern appears in 1 Fluentide episode: