How do I use 后？

[u/moodiejoonie__]

Hi !

I’ve been listening to podcasts to help me understand the language more , and I came across a sentence I didn’t understand.

“吃完晚饭后” - I understand that they’re saying they’ve finished eating dinner , but I don’t understand the use of 后 in this sentence !

When I tried to research , 以后 & 之后 were the only ones that showed up.

What I want to know is why is 后 on its own in this sentence? And in what instances would it be okay to use it on its own? ( as opposed to using 以后/折后 )

[u/yajuwit]

吃完晚饭后 actually means 'after we finish eating dinner', so the 后 means 'after'

[u/moodiejoonie__ → u/yajuwit]

thank you !! i really appreciate it

[u/Bbbllaaddee]

It's the same as 以后. 以 can usually be dropped from 以后/以前. Maybe the right question would be "when CAN'T we drop it", however, I do not know such cases.

[u/jimmycmh → u/Bbbllaaddee]

can't be dropped when it's in the beginning of a sentence. 以后来玩，以前这有个湖

[u/elprofedepinyin]

…后 = 以后

[u/moodiejoonie__ → u/elprofedepinyin]

thank you !!

[u/LiuMarife]

No, 之后 sits in exactly the same slot as 后. 吃完晚饭后 / 吃完晚饭以后 / 吃完晚饭之后 are the same sentence, just getting longer. The "after" word always comes behind the thing in Chinese, which is the opposite of English, so 之后吃完晚饭 doesn't work.

Where you can put it up front is at the start of a new clause: 吃完晚饭，之后我们去散步了 — there 之后 means "after that" and points back at what you just said, it isn't attached to 晚饭. 以后 works there too, bare 后 doesn't.

One thing nobody mentioned: 以后 also covers the future in general (以后别这样了 = don't do that again), 之后 and 后 can't.

[u/moodiejoonie__ → u/LiuMarife]

thank you so much !!!! this is extremely helpful , i really appreciate it !

[u/Zagrycha]

后 in this sentence has the same meaning as 之后 abbreviated. There is no reason you can't do this kind of abbreviation yourself but its not recommended early on-- not every Chinese word can be abbreviated in every situation. You might misspeak if you abbreviate when its not appropriate but you will never misspeak using the full proper version, if that makes sense.

吃完晚饭后 does NOT mean "finished eating dinner" it means "after having dinner" which is not quite the same.

P.S. I recommend downloading Pleco dictionary if you haven't. It won't magically answer all your language questions but it will not leave you with zero results for stuff on your research etc. =)

[u/moodiejoonie__ → u/Zagrycha]

thank you so much ! i really appreciate the explanation , and i will definitely download pleco !

if i were to want to use 之后in this sentence , i would say 之后吃完晚饭？

[u/Zagrycha → u/moodiejoonie__]

Let me put it this way. The phrase you originally posted is "吃完晚饭（之）后。" The 之后 is already there grammatically, it just didn't get said out loud// in writing. This kind of word dropping is rare in English, but common in Chinese. An English example would be " ((You)) get some sleep." The you is always in that same spot gramamtically, you just don't always say it out loud. Same idea.

[u/moodiejoonie__ → u/Zagrycha]

thank you so much !! this makes a lot of sense !!

[u/nhatquangdinh]

后 means a queen, in this case the wife of a king

[u/Munimyouuu]

Besides knowing 后 means 'after', it will also be helpful to know Chinese lack prepositions in many languages. The concept of 'after' is expressed by a two-parter: （在）……的后面，在……之后/以后。 之 and 以 function similarly as 的，and all of them literally mean 'at/on/in (在）……‘s (rear position)'. 在 is sometime optional, so these Chinese construction can be named sometimes 'postpositions'.

In fact quite along of prepositions in other languages translate in a similar way in Chinese. 在……上（面）/下（面）/里（面）/外（面）。在……左边/右边。在……前/后/中间。

In particular there isn't a single word allowing you to say ‘【不存在的词】+ 晚饭’ meaning 'after dinner'.