我先走了

[daofeishi]

The phrase above is something that I often hear when people are in the middle of an activity and have to excuse themselves, and the use of 先 has confounded me for a while since 先 in any other context I've seen means "first". Whenever one says "I first have to [do X]" in English, there is usually an implicit "before I can [do Y]". That doesn't seem to be the case with "我先走了". What function does 先 have in this case, and how does the meaning/tone of voice differ from something like "我要走了"?

[renzhe]

我先走了 is basically a fixed phrase, in which 先 doesn't mean first, but "right now", adding a certain urgency to the action. It lets people know that you are about to leave.

Nciku lists the following meaning:

2. adverb (used with a negative word "不" , "别" , etc.) for the time being; for the moment

你先别走，我有话跟你说

Here, there is no negative word, but it's still pretty much the same meaning.

[skylee]

我先走了= 我比你先走了 = 我先於你而走了 = 我先走一步了

i wonder if it can be considered a fixed phrase.

[daofeishi]

Skylee, I'm not sure if 我先走了 corresponds to 我比你先走了 in every context? Another example of this 先 is if you are at a venue and someone says 我先出去一下. They don't necessarily mean 我比你先出去, right? It's more of a "I'm just going outside for a while," isn't it?

I drew the same conclusion as renzhe has done, but I wasn't sure if I was missing some subtle nuance of what 先 means or what contexts it is used in.

[creamyhorror]

Skylee is right - 我比你先走了 is the implication in this context, or at least that's how I've always thought of it. It's like お先に in Japanese or "I'll be going first" in (Singaporean?) English. It's a polite way to saying you'll be leaving before the other person (unlike "我要走了", which is more neutral).

"我先出去一下": I think this is a different use of 先. My sense is that 先 is an indicator of polite tentativeness or temporariness - equivalent to "just" in "you're just going outside". It sort of softens or minimizes the firmness of the action.

[daofeishi]

I don't know about Japanese, but I'm fairly sure I've heard 先 in situations it wouldn't make any sense to talk about who would do what 'first'.

I've found a couple of examples online, and I've tried to translate them into idiomatically correct English:

张秘书，我先出去一下，下午才能回来

Ms Zhang, I'll be going out for a while and won't be back until the afternoon.

你先好好休息，我先出去一下

You go and have a rest, I'll go out for a while.

In none of these situations would it make sense to say "I'll be going out before you"/"I'll be going out first". It seems like 先 is only used to add some sense of immediacy to the sentences.

...Oh yeah, and then there's this joke

小兔说：“我妈妈叫我小兔兔，好听！”

小猪说：“我妈妈叫我小猪猪，也好听！”

小狗说：“我妈妈叫我小狗狗，也很好听！”

小鸡说：“你们聊，我先走了！”

Edit: Creamyhorror edited his post while I was writing this, and now we seem to be more in agreement, although to me it still seems as if the 先 in 我先走了 and 我先出去一下 play the same role, at least in some contexts (?)

[Glenn]

It can't mean "before coming back"? For instance, in the 张秘书，我先出去一下，下午才能回来 example, can't it mean "I'll be stepping out (first), and then coming back" or something along those lines? I know it's unnecessary in English, but we aren't talking about English here. Similarly, with 你先好好休息，我先出去一下, could it just be saying "you have a rest (first) and I'll step out for a bit (first), and then we'll do something else" where the later action is implied? I'm just brainstorming here; I don't really know.

[skylee]

please consider the difference of the verbs used, and the effect of 了.

[Outofin]

Hehe, somehow I feel daofeishi makes better sense than skylee. But I don't know who is right.

Language learners usually get better grammar training than native speakers. For similar reason, Americans don't know how to use 'I' and 'me' correctly.

[daofeishi]

Skylee, think you could explain what you meant there? My poor non-native speaker brain can't pick out the differences yet.

[muyongshi]

Actually I believe Skylee is right here. While it sounds funny to think about it in terms of "I am leaving earlier than you" that is the implication and it has become a set phrase in the process. However I believe that in the context of 你先出去 there is a 先。。。然后。。。 thing going on. First you go out and then I will talk to this other person. It's just that they are such common expressions they have become 固定 in a way but still carry that grammatical meaning. That is my input anyway.

[gougou]

In the case of 我先走, could it be to take out the edge a bit? I.e., "I am leaving but you were gonna leave as well anyway" rather than "I am leaving and you stay here alone"?

[daofeishi]

Actually I believe Skylee is right here. While it sounds funny to think about it in terms of "I am leaving earlier than you" that is the implication and it has become a set phrase in the process. However I believe that in the context of 你先出去 there is a 先。。。然后。。。 thing going on. First you go out and then I will talk to this other person. It's just that they are such common expressions they have become 固定 in a way but still carry that grammatical meaning. That is my input anyway.

Hmm... But what is happening in 我先别走, then? Then translating it as "first" seems weird and contrived ("first I won't go (then I will go).") Doesn't it make more sense to think of it as expressing immediacy, as in "I won't leave right now/I won't leave quite yet."

Also, I am not sure if this 先 has been 固定-ified. It occurs in a wide variety of combinations. I just overheard someone say 你先做作业吧, and that came from someone who couldn't possible have homework to do herself (she isn't a student), so the "you do it first, I'll do it later"-interpretation can't hold in that case. It also seems like 你先出去一下 is not only used in contexts where there are any implications of what will happen afterwards.

In the case of 我先走, could it be to take out the edge a bit? I.e., "I am leaving but you were gonna leave as well anyway" rather than "I am leaving and you stay here alone"?

Yeah, I agree that it sounds like it is smoothing out sharp edges, but I don't think there are any implications at all about what the other person will be doing. (Have a look at the 你先做作业吧 above.)

Sorry for raising so many questions. I might be overlooking something really simple that is making you all facepalm at my stupidity, but to me renzhe's explanation still makes more sense.

[Glenn]

That doesn't just mean "do your homework first (before you play video games, watch TV, etc.)"?

[daofeishi]

It could mean that, but in this context it wasn't used like that. There was no talk about what she would do afterwards, just some complaining about having tons of homework and no time to talk.

[gougou]

I agree with Glenn. In that case I would interpret it as an implied "Do your homework first, and then we'll talk." - differently than in the 我先走 example.

[muyongshi]

It's all just in general. It doesn't mean there even has to be a specific thing (or even the person) that will occur after the thing that is being done "first" but that is the structure it is following. LIke in the instance that you gave about the homework, it's "first do your homework, (implied) then complain about it". Now obviously the person may have not been thinking that or even saying that but that is the implication. First do your homework then do something else.

The instance of someone leaving, it is a polite phrase but even if the person would be coming back it is still about them leaving "first" and then what happens after that is not essential but usually them leaving is for a reason. "I'm going to go out first and THEN make a phone call" or "I'm going to leave for a second first and then go to the bathroom" or even "... then come back".

[ma3zi1]

Really, it's just a polite and very native way to say "goodbye". Chinese people rarely say 再見, more commonly they say 拜拜, especially on the phone (even it if sounds girly to us).

我先走 is just like saying "goodbye" if you are the first person to bring it up. A common, and appropriate response to 我先走 is 慢慢走.

When I first got to Beijing, I thought it was like a competition, sort of like "I'm going home first, lucky me (sucks for you)" and I didn't know how to respond at all. But, yeah it's not like that at all... haha

[siledouyaoai]

I agree with skylee that it's not a fixed phrase. I think it's more of a question of collective culture, so it doesn't seem surprising that the same is so in Japanese and in Singapore. ‘I'm going first' seems to acknowledge the fact the leaving is not just a personal action, but one which will influence the dynamic of the whole group, and as such is a demonstration that the person is thinking first of the group, then of the individual. 我失陪一下 to me seems to have the same kind of feeling behind it.

[renzhe]

I obviously don't have the intuition of a native speaker, and what you all are saying might be correct, but to me, the phrase "我先走了", these particular four characters, mean "I'm leaving. Right now." and don't imply much else.

If you say, for example, 我先走了,你好好休息一下, then there is a temporal component, but if you just say 我先走了! then it means "I'm out of here" and anything coming after it is rather philosophical.

And welcome back to muyongshi ;)