Learn Hardcore Chinese: wǒ xiān qù yóujú bǎ bāoguǒ jìchūqù, zài huí gōngsī gōngzuò. - I’ll go to the post office to mail out the package first, then go back to the company to work.

Word

我　先　去　邮局　把　包裹　寄出去，　再　回　公司　工作。wǒ xiān qù yóujú bǎ bāoguǒ jìchūqù, zài huí gōngsī gōngzuò.

Meaning

I’ll go to the post office to mail out the package first, then go back to the company to work.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Breakdown of wǒ xiān qù yóujú bǎ bāoguǒ jìchūqù, zài huí gōngsī gōngzuò.

Why is 先 used here, and where does it go in the sentence?

先 means first or before that. It marks the first action in a sequence.

In this sentence, 我先去邮局...，再回公司工作 means:

It usually goes before the verb phrase it modifies, so 我先去邮局 is a very natural pattern.

A common pattern is:

For example:

What does 再 mean here? Is it the same as again?

Here, 再 means then, after that, or next in a sequence.

It can also mean again in other contexts, but in this sentence it is mainly marking the second action after 先.

So:

In this sentence:

That means the speaker is laying out the order of actions, not saying they will work again.

Why do we use 把 here?