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Posted

what's the mandarin equivalent of 头先?

meaning "before"

eg, i already went there before (我头先去过la!)

would it be 之前?

i don't think this is used in cantonese for such situation so i wasn't thinking the same for mandarin also, it's more used in a situation such as 我食饭之前洗o左手

what other ways are there to say "before" in mandarin?

plz correct me if my statements are wrong, thanks

Posted
what's the mandarin equivalent of 头先?

meaning "before"

eg, i already went there before (我头先去过la!)

would it be 之前?

Try 以前:

我以前去过la!

Posted

头先 is actually a type of 语病 in Mandarin Chinese. Although, it's acceptable in Hakka, Cantonese dialects. You shouldn't really use 头先 in Mandarin.

Apart from

以前

之前

曾经

You may also consider the followings:-

前此

较早

在前

在前方

在前头

在前面

先于

优于

比…早些

As you can see, there are actually quite a lot for you to choose from. They all mean "before" in Chinese.

K.

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
i looked up 曾经 in the dictionary and the meaning was "once"!

not "before"

The meaning of a word is what it means in combination with its neighbours, not when it is on its own. (You're known by the companies you keep! :mrgreen: )

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