我先走

[Guest Pipas]

Why do they say it in this way: "我先走了"? Does it mean "gotta go" or smth else?

[Quest]

Literally, it means "I (before you) go now", but yes it means I gotta go now.

[MarkKang]

It is quite common. Also carries the connotation- We've been/arrived together and I should/would like to stay and then leave together, but I have to go first.

A lot for 3 words huh?

[Guest Pipas]

Oh, thanks!

So, can we say it's a polite form, like -for example- "您贵姓?"

Is it possible to say smth else using pattern 先+Verb?

[gougou]

Is it possible to say smth else using pattern 先+Verb?

Yes. For example, 我先休息了 or, on the internet, 我先下了。

[dwood92688]

我先走了: I'll take off now. Implying that you, or some other people, are not going right away, and I am leaving here before you (they) do.

It does not necessarily mean that I *need to* go. Perhaps I have suggested that we all go together, but was made known that you (or the others) can't go at this moment. And there is nothing that requires me to stay any longer.

我先走了, 我先吃了, 我先睡了。After making sure that it is not offending anyone, I am proceeding to do ...

[skylee]

I came across this page when I searched for "弱水三千". It mentions the Cantonese influence on the use of "先", which I think is interesting. ->

不知道是不是受了周星驰的影响，还是粤语本身就是有这种说法，现在人习惯把这个“先”字放到句子的后面说，似乎是要加强语气。比如说，以前大家说“我先走了”现在改说“我走先”。就好像是能把“先”字最后一个笔画竖折弯勾也可以拖长一样，听起来好像很意犹未尽，我也就习惯了这么说。

Re the question, 粤语本身就有这种说法. And this is the LOL part ->

我不同，堂堂七尺男儿怎么能如此逆来顺受，所以我要大声喊出来：“弱水三千，取一瓢饮先。”大概意思就是说，我把女子比做弱水，古时皇帝后宫佳丽三千，就是弱水三千了，我先喝一瓢，然后一瓢一瓢喝下去。

[xiaocai]

hehe, 那我笑一个先好啦。