Japanese expressions

Three Ways of Saying,"After" Verb-ing... in Japanese.

Japanese Grammar Plug and Play - DIY conversational Japanese

There are three ways to form sentences that you can use when you want to say, "After verb-ing" in Japanese. Here are the constructs:

1. Verb (base TE) + KARA
2. Verb (base TA) + ATO DE
3. Verb (base TA) + NOCHI NI
By themselves KARA, ATO DE, NOCHI NI all mean, "after". All quite similar in their various translations, meanings and usage to each other and are the equivalent for expressions relating to the English terms, "following", "later" orthereafter etc.

The first way to say that you will do something, (A) after doing something else, (B) in Japanese, is to put a Japanese verb into Base-TE then add KARA grammar, so that:



I. Verb inBase-TE + KARA = "After" verb-ing....






Here are some rules to help you put regular Japanese verbs into Base-TE

Take verbs and put them into Base-TE accirding to the closing syllable(s).

Verbs ending in KU become ITE .

Verbs ending in GU become IDE .

Verbs ending in U, TSU, or RU TTE

Verbs ending in BU, MU, or NU become NDE".

The verb SURU becomes SHITE



After putting verbs into Base-TE, add KARA (after) to complete the construction.

Examples -

HANASU -v. to speak.
In Base-TE the Japanese verb HANASU = HANASHITE

"HANASHITE + KARA" = "After speaking , or after talking..."

"CHOTTO HANASHITE KARA IKIMASHO^." - "Let's go after we talk a little."

YOMU -­ v. to read.
In Base-TE, the Japanese verb YOMU­ becomes YONDE

"YONDE KARA" ­= "After reading..."

"HON O YONDE KARA NERU TO OMOIMASU." - "After reading my book, I think I will sleep."

TABERU - v. to eat
In Base-TE, TABERU becomes TABETE.

"TABETE KARA" = "After eating"

"TABETE KARA SHUKUDAI O SURU". "After I eat, I'm going to do homework."

UNDO^ SURU - v. to exercise
In Base-TE, SURU becomes SHITE

"SHITE KARA" = "After exercising..."

"UNDO^ SHITE KARA SHAWA WO ABIRU." - "I'll take a shower after doing my exercise."

The second way to say "After verb-ing" in Japanese is by using the following construct.

II. Verb (base TA) + ATO DE - "After" verb'ing...

Here are some rules for putting Japanese verbs into Base-TA. (Base-TA can be thought of as the past tense form of Japanese verbs.)

For Japanese verbs ending in BU , MU, or NU the Base- A form= NDA

Examples-

NOMU - v. to drink
NOMU in Base-TA is NONDA (past tense of drink or drank)

"NONDA ATO DE" = "After drinking..."

"SAKE O NONDA ATO DE NEMUKUNATTA." - "I got sleepy after drinking sake."

A third way of saying "after verb-ing" in Japanese, is to substitute the word%2Bparticle NOCHI NI for ATO DE . ATO DE and NOCHI DE actually use the same kanji . This being the case, you can use them interchangeably and the meaning stays the same. As a general rule, you can use NOCHI with NI (different particle) any time you would use ATO DE.



III. Verb in Base-TA + NOCHI NI - "After verb'ing "




NOCHI NI and ATO DE are interchangeable thus: NOCHI NI = ATO DE



Examples -

1. SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI IE NI KAETTA - I went home after drinking some sake.

2. SAKE O NONDA NOCHI NI INU O SAMPO SHI NI ITTA - "After I drank some sake, I took the dog for a walk."

As you can see from these examples, there are two sides to each sentence using the "After" verb-ing grammar. On one side is verb (A) that comes before transforming it into its Base-TE or Base-TA forms , and verb (B) appeasr after KARA, ATO DE, and NOCHI NI.

- Verb (A) in base TE %2B KARA then a Verb (B) in past tense

- Verb (B) can be past, present, negative or positive, but Verb (A) must be in base TE.

I hope that you too can start-up some cool and interesting conversations using these Japanese plug and play grammar constructions. Test your Japanese language creations out on your Japanese friends, to see if they fly. If not revise and do it again. Plug and play is drill and kill for Japanese language learners of the 21st century. Good luck in all your Japanese language learning endeavors.

As Always, Ganbatte Ne!

Do Your Best!

Makurasuki.

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http://japanetics.blogspot.com