HSK 4 grammar · conjunction
首先…其次
首先…其次… — first … second … (ranking points)
Pattern
+ + +
( ) can be left out · other words may come before, between and after
How it works
首先 … 其次 … lays out points or reasons in order of importance — "first … second …". Unlike 先…然后 (which orders actions in time), this ranks items in a list and can continue with 再次 or 最后.
Examples
学好外语，首先要多听，其次要多说。
Xué hǎo wàiyǔ, shǒuxiān yào duō tīng, qícì yào duō shuō.
To master a language, first listen a lot, second speak a lot.
首先是安全问题，其次才是价钱。
Shǒuxiān shì ānquán wèntí, qícì cái shì jiàqián.
First there's safety, and only second the price.
这样做首先不礼貌，其次也没有用。
Zhèyàng zuò shǒuxiān bù lǐmào, qícì yě méiyǒu yòng.
Doing this is first of all rude, and second useless.
Related
See it in a story
In the app, 首先…其次 is underlined wherever it appears in the stories you read, and practised with sentences from them. Free.