The Meaning and Use of “erst”

Hello everyone,

and welcome to our German Word of the Day. I hope you are all well and awake ’cause this time we will have a look at the meaning of:

erst

Most of you probably know that it as first, but erst also a translation for only – a specific version of it, to be precise. And once you start digging for the difference to nur you’ll find another word there… schon.
Dun dunn dunnn.
Schon and erst, two sides of the same coin. Or actually, more like two views of the same side of the coin.
So, are you ready to take a look?
Then let’s go.

And we’ll start with the normal meaning of erst…

‘erste’ as ‘first’ – The Adjective

Erst- is the German counterpart for first in the sense of ‘better’ than second.

• Das erste Date.
• The first date.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

• Der erste Kuss.
• The first kiss.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

• Mein erster Eindruck.
• My first impression.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

• Das war mein erstes Mal in Paris.
• That was my first time in Paris.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

• Ich habe gestern zum ersten und letzten Mal ein TikTok gesehen
• I saw a TikTok for the first and last time yesterday.

• “Ist das das erste oder das zweite Bier?”
  “Das erste.”
• “Is that the first or the second beer.”
  “The first.”

As you can see, erst- gets endings, which is no surprise because it is used like an adjective here.
But erst there is one crucial difference. For a normal adjective like schön, we can use a phrasing like the following:

• Die Blume ist schön.
• The flower is pretty.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

Here, schön has no ending here, the word is used in the basic form.
This does NOT work with erst (and also not really with first).

• Thomas is first… nope
• Thomas ist erst… WRONG

In English, we’d say

• Thomas is the first (one)

And in German, it’s similar, but we don’t need “one”. Instead, we just use the adjective as a noun BUT… we need the endings again.

• Thomas is der Erste.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

Cool.
Now before we move on, let’s also give a quick mention to erstens.
Erstens is the translation for first or first of in the context of lists. Erstens is used whenever you talk about a list, that is NOT time related… for example a list of reasons. Here a (rather complicated) example.

• Ich will nicht ins Kino, weil ich erstens kein Geld habe, zweitens morgen früh aufstehen muss und drittens eh nur Scheiße kommt.
• I do not want to go to the movie because first of, I have no money, second, I have to get up early tomorrow and third, there are only shit-movies anyway.
  
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

Cool.
So that’s erste- in the sense of first one.
Now let’s move on to erst in sense of time.

‘erst’ as ‘first’ for time

And in German, there are actually three main words or phrases that deal with first in a temporal context: erst, als erstes and zuerst.
Als erstes has kind of a list vibe to it. Like… you’d use it for the first of several steps.

• Als erstes trinke ich einen Kaffee, dann putze ich mir die Zähne und ziehe mich an und dann gehe ich los.
• First, I drink a coffee, then I brush my teeth and then I head out.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

Erst would work here, too, but it is more fitting in contexts where we order just two things in time…. like “first A then B”.

• “Wollen wir eine DVD gucken?”
  “Gern, aber erst muss ich das Kapitel zu Ende lesen.”
• “Should we watch a DVD?”
  “Sure, good idea, but first, I have to finish reading this chapter.”
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

• Heute nach der Arbeit fahre ich erst zum Frisör und dann nach Hause.
• Today after work, I’ll first go to the hair dresser and then I’ll go home.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

The third option, zuerst, fits in both contexts but it sounds a tiny bit more technical than just erst.

And erst is definitely the word of choice if you want to translate at first (or related things like initially or in the beginning). So if the story we’re telling has some element about change.

• Ich dachte erst, Theater ist langweilig, aber dann war es doch sehr unterhaltend.
• At first I thought theater is boring, but then it actually was quite entertaining.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

Erst also often teams up with mal.
Me personally, I don’t think that there is much of a difference in meaning between erst and erst mal. Maybe adding mal just makes it longer and less abrupt, thus maybe reflecting gradual changes better than a mere erst.

• Maria ist immer erst mal ein bisschen schüchtern, aber sie wird schnell locker.
• At first, Maria is always a bit shy, but she loosens up quickly.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

• “Wollen wir frühstücken, Schatz?”
  “Oh, jetzt noch nicht, ich muss erst mal richtig wach werden.”
• “Should we eat breakfast, darling?”
  “Oh not yet, first, I have to really wake up.”
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

Anyway.. there are actually many other words and phrases in German that express the core idea of “first in time”… zunächst,anfangs, anfänglich, zu Beginn, am Anfang, eingangs.
But talking about the nuances would be a bit too much for now. Like… if you catch your brain going like “I need to know!!” and you feel a compulsion to look them all up then trust me… you don’t need to know. I know it’s hard, but it’s really a waste of energy.
What you really do need to know is the third use of erst.

‘erst’ as ‘only’

So beyond this whole notion of first, erst has another idea it expresses. And that one is actually quite tough to grasp and explain.
Here are three examples….

1. Heute bin ich erst einmal angerufen worden.
   ▶
2. Ich habe heute erst um 8 Feierabend.
   ▶
3. Ich bin erst 3 Wochen in Berlin.
   ▶

You could translate them with something like first and it might even make sense, but that’d be completely missing the point.
Here’s what the sentences actually express:

1. Today I have been called only once (so far).
2. I won’t be out of work before/ earlier than 8 today.
3. It’s only 3 weeks so far, that I am in Berlin.

Seems a bit all over the place, right? And yet, it’s the same type of erst to a native speaker.
Now, two of the translations involve only. And that kind of works, even though it’s a bit weird sounding if we use it for the second example.

• I’ll be done working only at 8.

Not sure if that’s even proper English or what it expresses.
And also, not every only can be translated as erst. We’ve actually talked about how to translate only in a separate article (I’ll put the link below), but I’ll give you the main point real quick: erst is an only that is subject to change. Like… it’s gonna get “more”. So maybe think of it as “only … so far”.

• Wow, it’s only 10 (it will get later progressively).
• Wow, es ist erst um 10.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

• I was in Paris only one time so far.
• Ich war erst 1 mal in Paris.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

In the second example, nur would also work, but it lacks this notion of “We might go there again.” And in the first example, nur doesn’t really make sense, because time is ALWAYS subject to change and it will definitely get later than 10.
Here’s an example with the two back to back:

1. Ich habe erst 10 Euro verdient.
2. Ich habe nur 10 Euro verdient.

The first one means that I’m gonna earn more, the second one implies that the job is finished and my total earnings are 10 bucks.
To a German, that distinction is pretty clear and using nur when you should use erst sounds pretty strange.
Now you might be like “Wow, this is great! But do you have some more examples?”
But actually, I don’t want to go into that any further. As I said… there’s a separate article, if you want more.

Instead, we need to talk about a second way of thinking about this weird erst. A way that might actually be closer to its essence.
Are you ready?

erst expresses the opposite of already.

The best way to illustrate this is probably the example we had with the time:

“Wow, it’s already//only 10 pm.”

We have a continuum, which is “time” in this case, and the two words express different perceptions about where we are on this continuum. already expresses that we’ve made quite some progress (for better or worse), only expresses the opposite.
And the German counterpart is the pair schon and erst.
And the question whether something is considered schon or erst is purely a matter of perspective.

• Heute habe ich schon//erst einen Apfel gegessen.
• Today, I have already // only eaten one apple so far.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

One speaker might consider one apple to be far advanced on the “eating healthy” continuum, another might see it as not that much yet.
And understanding this dynamic might be helpful with German uses of schon and erst that aren’t all that intuitive to speakers of other languages. Like the weird one about Feierabend which I gave in the beginning of this segment. Here it is again:

• Ich habe heute erst um 8 Feierabend.
• I won’t be out of work before/ earlier than 8 today.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

By using erst, the speaker expresses that 8 is kind of late, while with schon it would sound like the end of work is unusually early.
And I know what question some of you have in mind now. You are wondering if it shouldn’t be schon for late ending and erst for early ending, just like in the example we had earlier.
And that’s a very good question! But the thing is… erst basically expresses that there’s lots of potential for “more”, while schon expresses that a lot of potential “has been used”.
If we’re at the bar and we say it’s “erst 10”, then we mean there’s lots of time for us to stay. And if we say it is “schon 10” then we express that we have used a lot already.
In the example with end of work on the other hand, erst expresses that there’d be lots of room for improvement…. because it is a late end. While by saying schon, we express that a lot has been achieved in terms of early end of the shift.
Phew… my head is starting to spin :).
Quick, let’s focus our gaze at this example…

• Ich habe erst um 7 Zeit, weil ich erst noch meinen Artikel fertig schreiben muss, und ich habe erst die Hälfte.
• I won’t have time before 7, because first, I have to finish my article, and I only have half of it so far.
  
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

Hmmm… okay, that didn’t really help with the spinning.
But seriously… if you can wrap your mind around the “duality” of schon and erst and really get a feel for what they express, that’ll make these two words way less confusing. But it might take a while, so don’t stress out over it. If you think of erst as the two ideas first and “only so far”, that’s a good base to work with.

And I think with that said, we can call it a d… oh hold on, I see we have a call here… I guess 2 more minutes won’t hurt… so … Hi Olga from Poland, have you enjoyed the show?
“Hi Emanuel, yes I did… I didn’t know these last things you explained so that was pretty interesting.”
Cool, glad to hear that… so Olga, what can I do for you?
“Well I read something really weird the other day in a German magazine and I was wondering, whether it is a typo… it was er-ste-res. Does that mean anything for real?”
Ohhhh… that must look weird for someone who is learning German, glad you brought that up! Well this really is a word actually… and it means das Erste – the first… it is just a weird way to say it without the article… the way I perceive it is that it is erster as “more first ” or “firster” if you will, and then you add a case ending. So you may also see ersterer, erstere, ersterem and so on… My explanation is nonsense of course as you cannot be “more first” but anyway… that is how it feels to me. German has 2 more of those words, zweiteres and letzteres. Based on my idiot explanation those would be the more second and the more last or the laster…
“And what does that mean?”
Ersteres basically means the former… zweiteres and letzteres both translate to the latter. There is no such thing as dritteres or vierteres, but you could actually say it.People would probably find it witty.
“Do you have an example maybe?”
Of course…

• Gestern haben sich Angela Merkel und Michael Jordan zum Abendessen getroffen. Erstere ist die Kanzlerin Deutschlands, letzterer ist eine Basketballlegende.
• Yesterday Angela Merkel and Michael Jordan met for diner. The former is the chancellor of Germany, the latter is a basket ball legend.
• ▶
  
• Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop

  

“Cool, vielen vielen Dank. Tschueessss.”
Bye Olga… And that was our Word of the Day erst. It can mean first but it can also mean the opposite of already . It is used a lot on German,especially in the second sense so try to grasp that.

If you have any questions or suggestions just leave me a comment. I hope you liked it and see you next time.

further reading:

• Saying “only” in German – nur, erst, einzig