Can you help me understand this quote?
So, I was scrolling down my twitter news feed and suddenly this quote appeared:

"Du musst nicht die ganze Treppe sehen, nimm erst einmal nur die erste Stufe." from Martin Luther King, Jr.

I managed to understand the first part: "Du musst nicht die ganze Treppe sehen,", but not this part: "nimm erst einmal". I mean, what is that "einmal" doing there? And why there are two "erste" in the sentence?

Question

Can you help me understand this quote?
So, I was scrolling down my twitter news feed and suddenly this quote appeared:

"Du musst nicht die ganze Treppe sehen, nimm erst einmal nur die erste Stufe." from Martin Luther King, Jr.

I managed to understand the first part: "Du musst nicht die ganze Treppe sehen,", but not this part: "nimm erst einmal". I mean, what is that "einmal" doing there? And why there are two "erste" in the sentence?

Answer

The word "erst einmal" in this context means, that you first have to do one thing before you start something else. So the words "erst" and "einmal" belong together.
In English "erst einmal" means "for a start"

The second "erste" means acutually the number of the stairs. So "erste Stufe" is just "first step".

Answers · 2

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