第一
first; number one
HSK level
- Pinyin
- dì-yī
- Part of speech
- phrase
- Level
- HSK 2
- Strokes
- 12
- Register
- neutral
- In episodes
- 5
Stroke order for 第一
第一 is written with 12 strokes (第: 11, 一: 1). The animation replays automatically.
What does 第一 mean?
第一 (dì-yī) means 'first' — the ordinal number 'one,' as in first place, first time, or first item in a sequence.
Chinese forms ordinals with the prefix 第 (dì) plus a number: 第一 'first,' 第二 'second,' 第三 'third,' and so on. This is one of the cleanest grammar patterns in the language — once you know 第, you can build every ordinal. Three common uses: ranking (第一名, 'first place'), enumeration (第一，... 第二，...
, 'firstly... secondly...'), and 'the first time' (第一次, dì-yī cì). Note the tone-change: 一 alone is yī, but in 第一 the tone stays as yī (high level) because 第 has already turned the number into an ordinal — it does not behave like the regular 一 + measure-word tone-change rules.
Character by character
Memory hook: 第 turns any number into an ordinal — like adding '-st / -nd / -th' in English.
Hear 第一 in real episodes
第一 appears in 5 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed, 4 of them below. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
四月，他第一次跑马拉松，得了第一名。
In April, he ran a marathon for the first time and got first place.
A Runner Trains on a Gym Treadmill and Wins His First Marathon
第一张，就是那只不怕猫头鹰的松鼠，是一个美国人拍的。
The first is the squirrel that wasn't afraid of the owl, taken by an American.
A Squirrel Attacks an Owl and a Moose Sneezes: The Funniest Wildlife Photos of 2026 Are In
这是人第一次看到从这么远的地方来的中微子。
It was the first time people had seen neutrinos from so far away.
Francis Halzen Wins the Physics Nobel for Turning a Cubic Kilometer of Antarctic Ice Into a Telescope for Ghost Particles
第一，老师不够。
First, there aren't enough teachers.
French High-School Students Walk Out Over Missing Teachers: 250,000 March, Thousands Arrested and 500 Schools ShutElementary
Example sentences
这是我第一次来中国。
Zhè shì wǒ dì-yī cì lái Zhōngguó.
This is my first time coming to China.
neutral
他得了第一名。
Tā dé le dì-yī míng.
He got first place.
neutral
第一天上班，我很紧张。
Dì-yī tiān shàngbān, wǒ hěn jǐnzhāng.
First day at work, I was so nervous.
spoken
你是第一个到的。
Nǐ shì dì-yī ge dào de.
You're the first one to arrive.
spoken
学习汉语，第一是要多听。
Xuéxí Hànyǔ, dì-yī shì yào duō tīng.
When studying Chinese, the first thing is to listen a lot.
neutral
Common phrases with 第一
Synonyms
首 means 'first / head' in formal compounds (首次, 'first time'; 首位, 'top spot'). 第一 is the everyday version; 首 is literary or used in news/business writing.
Spoken alternative for 'first' in casual speech: 头一次 ('first time'), 头一个 ('the first one'). Slightly more colloquial than 第一; both are common.
Don't confuse 第一 with
一 is the cardinal number 'one' (一个人, 'one person'). 第一 is the ordinal 'first.' Without 第, the meaning shifts from rank to count.
第二 ('second') uses the same 第 prefix. Just swap the number after 第 to form any ordinal.
弟 ('younger brother') is a different character with the same pinyin as 第. 第一 = first; 弟 has nothing to do with ordering.
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 第一 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 第一 in 5 episodes. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.