first language

noun

1. a person's native language

Example Sentences

Im likes to say that his first language was English, because he and the neighborhood kids learned to chase after the American GIs from the base near his house, shouting “Hello, give me chocolate!”

From Los Angeles Times

“Spanish is the first language I was spoken to,” Saldaña, 46, shares, shuttling back and forth between English and Spanish as we talk.

From Los Angeles Times

He also said he believed the Bobba entrepreneurs pitched their business “in good faith” and that, given English is not their first language, there was greater potential for miscommunication.

From Los Angeles Times

Tran said Vietnamese was his first language, but he has lost his childhood fluency.

From Los Angeles Times

Early on in her career, she said she was told by other tattoo artists that her "deafness would be an issue" because her first language was British Sign Language.

From BBC