先週（せんしゅう、senshuu）
- last week

The word 先週 先週 means "last week." It refers to the seven days immediately preceding the current week. It's a common time expression used to talk about events, activities, or situations that happened in the previous week.

⚫︎先週、映画を見ました。 Translation: I watched a movie last week. ⚫︎先週の金曜日に友達と会いました。 Translation: I met my friend last Friday.

You can use 先週 in various contexts, from casual conversations to formal settings. It's crucial to be mindful of the context when using this word. ⚫︎It’s often used to provide information about the past. ⚫︎It is typically used when you want to specify a past time frame.

先週 is primarily written with the kanji 先 (せん - meaning "previous," "former," or "ahead") and the kanji 週 (しゅう - meaning "week"). The reading is せんしゅう in hiragana. There are no other ways to write this word. The okurigana is standard.

There aren’t direct synonyms. However, you can use phrases like "the week before" or "the previous week" to convey the same meaning.

The antonym of 先週 is 来週 (らいしゅう), which means "next week." Also, 今週 (こんしゅう) can be used to say "this week."

先週は忙しかった。 ・Translation: Last week was busy. ・Explanation: This sentence describes that the past week was filled with tasks or activity.

先週の宿題は難しかったですか？ ・Translation: Was last week's homework difficult? ・Explanation: This sentence asks about the difficulty level of the homework assigned the previous week.

The word 先週 is a combination of two kanji. 先 signifies "before" or "previous," and 週 signifies "week." The word thus literally means "previous week."