tā chī zǎocān qián zǒngshì xiān xǐshǒu, yě huì yòng máojīn cā liǎn.

In Chinese, 前 and 后 often come after a noun phrase or verb phrase.

So:

吃早餐前 = before eating breakfast
Literally: eat breakfast + before

This is a very common Chinese pattern:

• 睡觉前 = before sleeping
• 下课后 = after class ends
• 回家前 = before going home

So even though English uses before at the front, Chinese often puts 前 at the end of the event phrase.

It can feel like both in English, but grammatically it is closer to before eating breakfast.

Because 吃早餐 is a verb phrase, 吃早餐前 means before the action of eating breakfast.

In natural English, that is often translated simply as before breakfast, but the Chinese structure is built from the action itself.

They are related to time, but they do different jobs:

• 总是 = always; it shows a habit or repeated pattern
• 先 = first; it shows sequence

So:

总是先洗手 = always washes her hands first

That means:

1. this happens regularly, and
2. hand-washing happens before the next action

If you remove 先, the sentence still works:

她吃早餐前总是洗手。

That means She always washes her hands before breakfast, but it does not emphasize the order as strongly.

Chinese adverbs usually follow a fairly natural order.

Here, the sentence goes:

她 + 吃早餐前 + 总是 + 先 + 洗手

You can think of it like this:

• subject: 她
• time phrase: 吃早餐前
• frequency adverb: 总是
• sequence adverb: 先
• verb: 洗手

So 总是 comes before 先 because always describes the overall habit, while first describes the order of the action within that habit.

也 means also.

In this sentence, it adds another action:

• 先洗手 = first wash her hands
• 也会用毛巾擦脸 = also will / also tends to wipe her face with a towel

So 也 connects the second action to the first one.

A very important point: 也 usually comes before what it modifies. Here it comes before 会:

也会 = also will / also tends to

Not usually 会也.

Because the subject is still clearly the same person.

Chinese often omits a repeated subject when it is obvious from context. So after the comma, 她 is understood automatically.

Full version:

她吃早餐前总是先洗手，她也会用毛巾擦脸。

This is correct, but a little more repetitive. The original sentence sounds more natural.

Here 会 does not mean know how to.

In this sentence, 会 gives a sense like:

• will
• tends to
• is likely to
• often does as part of a usual pattern

So 也会用毛巾擦脸 suggests something like she will also wipe her face with a towel or she also tends to wipe her face with a towel.

If you said:

也用毛巾擦脸

that would sound more direct and plain: also uses a towel to wipe her face.

With 会, the statement sounds a bit softer and more habitual.

用 means to use, and it introduces the tool or instrument.

The pattern is:

用 + tool + verb + object

So:

用毛巾擦脸 = use a towel to wipe her face

More examples:

• 用筷子吃饭 = eat with chopsticks
• 用笔写字 = write with a pen
• 用手机拍照 = take photos with a phone

So 毛巾 is the thing being used, and 擦脸 is the action.

Chinese often leaves out possessives like my, your, or her when talking about body parts, if the owner is obvious.

So in this sentence:

• 洗手 = wash hands
• 擦脸 = wipe face

Because the subject is 她, listeners naturally understand these are her hands and her face.

If you say 擦她的脸, it is grammatically correct, but it sounds more explicit than necessary. It may suggest emphasis, contrast, or a special situation.

This is very common in Chinese:

• 抬头 = raise your head
• 闭眼睛 = close your eyes
• 洗手 = wash your hands

Because 擦 and 洗 are different actions.

• 洗脸 = wash the face
• 擦脸 = wipe the face

Since the sentence says 用毛巾, using 擦 makes sense: a towel is typically used to wipe or dry the face.

If the sentence were about washing with water, 洗脸 would be more natural.

Yes. All of these are natural:

• 吃早餐前
• 在吃早餐前
• 吃早餐之前
• 在吃早餐之前

Differences:

• 吃早餐前: concise, common, natural
• 在吃早餐前: a bit fuller
• 吃早餐之前: slightly more formal or explicit
• 在吃早餐之前: the fullest version

In everyday speech, the original 吃早餐前 is very normal.

Chinese often connects clauses without using a direct equivalent of English and.

Here, the comma plus 也 already makes the relationship clear:

• first action: 先洗手
• additional action: 也会用毛巾擦脸

Using 和 here would be wrong, because 和 mainly joins nouns, not full action clauses like this.

For example:

• 面包和牛奶 = bread and milk

But for verbs or clauses, Chinese often uses:

• a comma
• 也
• 然后
• 并且

So the original sentence is completely natural.

Both mean breakfast.

• 早餐 is a little more formal or neutral
• 早饭 is a little more conversational

Both are very common, and both work in this sentence:

• 吃早餐
• 吃早饭

A learner should understand and use both.

Yes. In careful dictionary form, both syllables are third tone:

• 洗 = xǐ
• 手 = shǒu

But when one third tone comes before another third tone, the first one usually changes in actual pronunciation to something like a second tone.

So 洗手 is commonly pronounced more like:

xíshǒu

This is a normal tone sandhi rule in Mandarin.

The written pinyin still stays xǐshǒu, but the spoken form changes.