After: 後

We already know one way of saying “after” in Japanese: by using the te form.

If we want to emphasis that A happened after B then we can add から to the te form of the first clause.

We can also use the following structure.

【Prior Action】後あと【で or に】【Subsequent Action】

The verb in the prior action must be in the standard simple past tense. This gives rise to the same “issue” we saw when using “before”; namely, that the tense of the first clause is not dependent on the time of the action. This means need to form sentences with literal translations like, “After I drank tea I will phone my friend” to get the correct grammar in Japanese.

To be clear, the following is incorrect.

We use the possessive particle to connection 後 to nouns.

〜後あとで vs 〜後あとに

This is actually quite a frustrating one to explain because in the many cases both are natural. Used on its own to mean “later” 後で is typically used.

Generally speaking, で is used to signify the simple chronology of events. に is used to emphasis that the succeeding clause is a natural result consequence of the preceding.

～後あとで vs 〜てから

Compared with 後あとで, ～てから places importance on the following three things:

1: Order, i.e. that B must happen after A.

Clearly the fact that you will book the hotel after checking the itinerary is not a coincidence; order is important and so ～てから is the more natural sentence.

2: Intention of the prior action.

The first sentence suggests that you intended to have the argument and then apologise; whereas the second is more natural because it simply states that the apology happened after the argument without insinuating any prior intention (with is presumably the case).

3: Continuity of the final action.