in the first place

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪn ðə ˈfɜːst pleɪs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪn ðə ˈfɝst pleɪs/

  • Audio (Mid-Atlantic US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ɪn ðə ˈfɜːst plæɪs/

  • Audio (General Australian):

    (file)

Prepositional phrase

in the first place

1. (sequence, idiomatic) To begin with; earlier; firstly; originally; at the start.

   The question is not whether I still enjoy the job, when I never enjoyed it in the first place.

2. (idiomatic) At all, even (typically in non-negated statements).

   Why does this exist in the first place?

Synonyms

• (at the start): See also Thesaurus:initially
• (earlier):
• (first in sequence): See also Thesaurus:firstly

Translations

to begin with

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: նախ (hy) (nax)
• Aromanian: ntãnj, ntãnjiu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 首先 (zh) (shǒuxiān), 本來 / 本来 (zh) (běnlái), 原本 (zh) (yuánběn), 起初 (zh) (qǐchū), 當初 / 当初 (zh) (dāngchū)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: allereerst (nl), überhaupt
• Finnish: alkujaan (fi), alun perin (fi); aluksi (fi)
• French: en premier lieu (fr), pour commencer (fr), avant tout (fr)
• Galician: primeiramente, primeiro (gl), en primeiro lugar
• Georgian: პირველ რიგში (ṗirvel rigši), უპირველეს ყოვლისა (uṗirveles q̇ovlisa)
• German: erstens (de), an erster Stelle, überhaupt erst
• Greek: πρώτα πρώτα (próta próta), κατά κύριο λόγο (katá kýrio lógo), καταρχήν (el) (katarchín)
• Hebrew: מלכתחילה (he) (mil’khatchíla)
• Hungarian: (to begin with) eleve (hu), (first of all) először is, (above all) elsősorban (hu)
• Irish: ó thús, ó thosach
• Italian: per prima cosa
• Japanese: そもそも (ja) (somosomo), 先ず以て (まずもって, mazumotte), 最初に (ja) (さいしょに, saisho-ni)
• Korean: 애초에 (aecho'e), 처음부터 (cheo'eumbuteo)
• Latin: prīmum (la)
• Navajo: łáaʼii góneʼ
• Polish: w pierwszej kolejności (pl)
• Portuguese: para começo de conversa
• Russian: в пе́рвую о́чередь (ru) (v pérvuju óčeredʹ), пре́жде всего́ (ru) (préžde vsevó), пе́рвым де́лом (pérvym délom), снача́ла (ru) (snačála), (informal) сперва́ (ru) (spervá), (informal) в пе́рвую го́лову (ru) (v pérvuju gólovu)
• Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: v prvom rade, za prvé, po prvé, už vôbec nie, vonkoncom nie, a predovšetkým
• Spanish: en primer lugar, para empezar, de entrada (es), primero (es), desde el principio, desde el comienzo
• Swedish: från (första) början
• Tamil: முதலில் (mutalil)
• Thai: ตั้งแต่แรก, ก่อนอื่น

See also

• above all
• first of all