Breakdown of douzo saki ni tabete kudasai.
食べるtaberu
to eat
くださいkudasai
please
先 にsaki ni
first
どうぞdouzo
go ahead
Questions & Answers about douzo saki ni tabete kudasai.
What does どうぞ add to the sentence?
どうぞ makes the request or invitation sound more polite, welcoming, and natural. In this sentence, it gives the feeling of please, go ahead.
So 食べてください is please eat, but どうぞ先に食べてください feels more like:
- Please go ahead and eat first.
- Please, don’t wait for me.
It is very common when offering permission or encouraging someone to do something.
What does 先に mean here?
先に means first, ahead, or before someone else / before something else.
In this sentence, it means the other person should eat before the speaker or without waiting.
Examples of the same idea:
- 先に行ってください。 = Please go ahead.
- 先に始めます。 = I’ll start first.
So here, 先に is not just first in an abstract sense. It often has the nuance of ahead of me/us.
Why is the particle に used in 先に?
