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What is Chinese for "Set the priority straight" ?

Or is there any Chinese fable or ancient story that relates to the idea of setting the priority straight?

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  • I can think of a few sentence structure that may help you(a little less direct/more general reminder), but would require a subject for what you are getting your priority straight on (work, family, school, etc.) If this may be what you want let me know and I'd be happy to help.
    – zagrycha
    Oct 21, 2022 at 6:09

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"Set something straight" means "make something clear"

"Set the priority straight" = 弄清首要的事 (make the priority clear)

"Set the record straight" = 弄清事實 (make the fact clear)

"Set someone straight" means "make someone understand"

"Set you straight" = 使你明白 (make you understand)

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  • In this case, what I try to mean is somewhat different. I am not saying "your priority is unclear". But I want to say "your priority is wrong. You think A is more important than B, but I think B is more important than A". That's the context in which I want to say "Set your priority straight". So I mean "Change your priority"
    – PPP
    Sep 18, 2022 at 10:44
  • @PPP The use of 清(楚) to convey both clarity, lack of ambiguity and tidy, neatness, properness in this instance is a key to natural Chinese. If you wanted to be more specific, the most usual way in colloquial Mandarin would be straight-out criticism, something like [你]把事情搞得乱七八糟，先做的竟然排到后面 etc.
    – Michaelyus
    Oct 19, 2022 at 22:28
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I prefer "get your priorities right".

You need to get your priorities right.
你需要确定事情的轻重缓急。

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"Set the priority straight" - I'll say it equals to say in Chinese "確認優先權(or 次序)".

Response to OP's comment:

If you want to say "Change your priority" - "你要把先後次序搞清楚(You shall set the priority straight)", which implies "我是對的,你是錯的(I'm right, you are wrong)".

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  • In this case, what I try to mean is somewhat different. I am not saying "your priority is unclear". But I want to say "your priority is wrong. You think A is more important than B, but I think B is more important than A". That's the context in which I want to say "Set your priority straight". So I mean "Change your priority"
    – PPP
    Sep 18, 2022 at 10:45
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I believe what you're looking for is 搞清楚狀況 (gǎo qīng chǔ zhuàng kuàng).

Which roughly means "Make oneself clear of the situation".

Please note that this phrase is not, strictly speaking, nice.

It somehow implies You know better than the listener (or whoever you're referring to), he/she is inferior to you and such.

And the worst of all, it has a little bit of meaning of "Know your place!".

So, depending on how you used "Set your priority straight!", this phrase could more or less means that.

If, say, an employee is slacking when there is obviously something in the tight schedule, the boss can definitely tell him "搞不清楚狀況呀你！？" (gǎo bù qīng chǔ zhuàng kuàng ya nǐ, Do you have any Fing idea what the situation is right now!? Set your priority straight!), and fire his/her ass!

Other uses of this phrase could be something like,

A smartass brat talking shit to a nice-but-hardcore gang member, then the gangster could surely say, "搞不清楚狀況呀你！？".

Then, in this case, it obviously means "Know your place! If you keep up, you will never see the light of day again!"

There are many other uses of this phrase, just as "Set your priority straight", it all depends on how and when you use it.

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