先週
せんしゅう
hepburn senshuu
last week
Part of speech · noun
Pattern visualization
先before
週week
Show part origins
Show stroke order animation
6 strokes · 4.1s
11 strokes · 7.6s
Examples
- 先週は忙しかったです。Last week was busy.
- 先週の金曜日に会いました。I met him last Friday.
Collocations
先週 (senshuu, last week)先週の (senshuu no, last week's)先月 (sengetsu, last month)先輩 (senpai, senior)先週末 (senshuumatsu, last weekend)
Mnemonic
先週 senshuu — 先 (before, ahead) + 週 (week). The metaphor: time as a stream where "ahead = already passed". Korean prefers jinan ("passed") for past time, but Japanese/Chinese use 先 (ahead). Same 先 in 先月 (sengetsu, last month), 先年 (sennen, previous year), 先輩 (senpai, the person who entered ahead of you in school/work).
Quick check
Why does 先 mark the past in Japanese/Chinese?