先

先	Meanings: previous, ahead On Readings: セン sen Kun Readings: さき saki Most Used Pronunciation: saki JLPT Level: 4 (see all JLPT 4 kanji) Grade: 1 Kanji Part: 儿 Stroke Number: 6

Level 4 Completion 38 / 103

Common jukugo
先生 - せん　せい sen sei - teacher (lit. born before)
先日 - せん　じつ sen jitsu - the other day, some days ago, recent
先妻 - せん　さい sen sai - one's former (divorced) wife

Useful Examples
Japanese: お先にどうぞ
Romaji: osaki ni douzo.
English: Please go ahead of me.

Japanese: あの人が校長先生です。
Romaji: ano hito ga kou chou sensei desu.
English: That person is the principal.

Japanese: 彼には先妻の子供が３人ある。
Romaji: kare ni wa sensai no kodomo ga san nin aru.
Literal: him as-for former wife's children three are.
English: He has three children by his former wife.

Japanese: ぼくはジョーンズ先生に作文を直してもらった。
Romaji: boku wa jo-nzu sensei ni sakubun o nao shite moratta.
English: I had my composition corrected by Mr Jones. [M]

Japanese: その病院は先月開業した。
Romaji: sono byouin wa sengetsu kaigyou shita.
English: The hospital opened last month.

Japanese: 荷物は先に送っておきなさい。
Romaji: nimotsu wa saki ni okutte okinasai.
English: Send your baggage in advance.

Japanese: 去年ブラウン先生がこのクラスを受け持った。
Romaji: kyonen buraun sensei ga kono kurasu o ukemotta.
English: Mr Brown took charge of this class last year.

Japanese: この電車は中野より先は各駅に停車する。
Romaji: kono densha wa nakano yori saki wa kakueki ni teisha suru.
English: This train stops at every station from Nakano on.

Japanese: トムとナンシーは先月別れた。
Romaji: tomu to nanshi- wa sengetsu wakareta.
English: Tom and Nancy broke up last month.

Look alike kanji

Notes/Mnemonic
It has two legs so it always walks ahead

Many example sentences are from the Tanaka Corpus as modified for use with WWWJDIC.