Level 6 · Lesson 6

先…然后…最后…
First … then … finally …

我先跑步，然后洗澡，接着吃早饭，最后去学校。

Lay a multi-step account out in order with 先, 然后, 接着 and 最后 — and use 于是 for what followed as a result.

听 · Listen

对话
 安娜 —  李明，你每天早上先做什么？ 
Li Ming, what do you do first every morning?  
 李明 —  我先跑步，然后洗澡，接着吃早饭。 
First I go running, then I shower, and right after that I have breakfast.  
 安娜 —  最后呢？ 
And last?  
 李明 —  最后我骑车去学校。你呢？ 
Last I cycle to school. And you?  
 安娜 —  今天早上我起得很晚，于是没吃早饭就出门了。 
This morning I got up late, and so I left without eating breakfast.  
 李明 —  所以你现在很饿吧？ 
So that's why you're hungry now?  
 安娜 —  对。我先喝杯茶，然后去买个面包。 
Right. I'll have a cup of tea first, then go and buy a roll.  
 李明 —  我跟你一起去。 
I'll come with you.  

讲解 · Explanation

我先跑步，然后洗澡，接着吃早饭，最后去学校。

This is the frame for any account with steps in it — a morning, a recipe, a set of directions, a story. 先 is an adverb: it goes after the subject and in front of the verb (我先跑步, never 先我跑步). 然后, 接着 and 最后 are different — they open the next clause and can stand right at its head, before the subject: 然后我洗澡. You need 先 only once, at the start; after that the sentence can keep walking forward for as long as you like.

先说第一件事，然后说下一件事。接着比然后更近，两件事连在一起。

然后 simply says 'after that' — the gap can be a minute or a year. 接着 says 'and straight on from there', with nothing in between: 他说完，接着就走了. If two things happened one on top of the other, reach for 接着; if you are just listing what came next, 然后 is the everyday choice. 最后 closes the list, and it is the same 最 you already use in 最好, 最大.

我起得很晚，于是没吃早饭就出门了。于是说的是后来发生的事。注意，明天我吃了早饭就出门，这个了说的是做完，不是过去。

于是 is the storyteller's 'and so'. It is not 所以: 所以 draws a conclusion and can be about an opinion, while 于是 reports the next event, the one the first event pushed into happening. Keep it inside narrative and it will always sound right. And notice the last example — 明天我吃了早饭就出门 is about tomorrow. 了 marks the finishing of the eating, not a past time; Chinese has no tense to mark.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
先	first, before anything else	我先走；放在动词前面
然后	then, after that	先…，然后…
接着	right after that	两件事连在一起
最后	finally, in the end	最后一句话
于是	and so, thereupon	讲故事时说后来的事

练习 · Practice

我们先看电影，______去吃饭。 We'll see the film first, then go and eat.

他病了，______去了医院。 He fell ill, and so he went to the hospital.

我先洗手，______吃饭，最后洗碗。 Fill in the middle step: first … ______ … finally.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'Last I cycle to school.'

先、然后、接着、最后、于是 Match each word to its job.

用一用 · Use it

我先…，然后…，接着…，最后…。

Say your own morning aloud in four steps, using all four words in order — 先, 然后, 接着, 最后. Then tell one small thing that went wrong yesterday and what it made you do, joining the two halves with 于是: 昨天下大雨，于是我没出去. Say it twice, the second time without stopping.