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

Before breakfast, she always washes her hands first and also wipes her face with a towel.

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

• 吃chī: to eat
• 也yě: also
• 她tā: she
• 会huì: will

Questions & Answers about tā chī zǎocān qián zǒngshì xiān xǐshǒu, yě huì yòng máojīn cā liǎn.

Why is 前 placed after 吃早餐 instead of before it?

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.

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Does 吃早餐前 mean before breakfast or before eating breakfast?

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.

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Why are both 总是 and 先 used? Aren’t they both about time?