[Grammar] "At the first time" vs "The first time"

[IWantToKnow]

Can someone please tell me which of the following is correct? (It may be confusing, and if you find it to be so, please let me know so that I can edit it)

-The first time that I picked up the cup, I spilled the water.

or

-At the first time that I picked up the cup, I spilled the water.

Thank you for your time.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Can someone please tell me which of the following is correct? (It may be confusing, and if you find it to be so, please let me know so that I can edit it)

-The first time that I picked up the cup, I spilled the water.

or

-At the first time that I picked up the cup, I spilled the water.

Thank you for your time.

The first is correct and natural. You could omit the "that" if you wish.

 

[IWantToKnow]

The first is correct and natural. You could omit the "that" if you wish.

I appreciate the swiftness of your reply, but could you please explain why the second is wrong, as opposed to the first? Again, thank you for answering the question.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I appreciate the swiftness of your reply, but could you please explain why the second is wrong, as opposed to the first? Again, thank you for answering the question.

I just doesn't seem natural to me.

 

[IWantToKnow]

Thanks for trying, but unfortunately this was not the answer I was looking for.

On a more hopeful note, would anyone like to contribute a legitimate reason as for why the first sentence is better than the second one?

 

[LeTyan]

The second probably isn't grammatically wrong. But I bet among all the people you ask, 9 out of 10 would go for the first. Sometimes statistics just prevail over grammatical legitimacy.
----------------NOT A TEACHER------------------

 

[Rover_KE]

...would anyone like to contribute a legitimate reason as for why the first sentence is better than the second one?

You're a native speaker, IWantToKnow. You must be aware that certain arrangements of words don't collocate (go naturally together).

'At the first time' is not a natural collocation and that's a perfectly 'legitimate reason' why the first sentence is better than the second.

Rover