Comparing "yihou" and "zhihou"

If you are trying to explain what you did after a certain event, you might want to use "以后" (yǐhòu) or "之后" (zhīhòu). After all, they do both mean "after", right? Well, it turns out that there are a few rules that you need to be aware of before you use them.

Structure

These two words share a structure, so it is easy to see how they would be easily confused. Here's the structure:

Subject + Time + 以后/之后 + Action

However, there is another structure that only works with "之后":

Subject + Event, 之后 + Action

Now you might be thinking, "But '以后' means afterwards, why doesn't that work?" In this case, "以后" is just used to talk about the future in general. The meaning that you're probably thinking of comes from the first structure above.

以后

In situations where you have already done something and then after that you did something else, you can use "以后". The stipulation with this is that the time has to be explicitly said. That is, there has to be a time for "以后" to modify. Otherwise the sentence won't make sense.

Examples

• 我 六 点 下班，下班 以后，我 去 跟 朋友 吃饭。I get off work at six. After I get off, I'm going to eat with friends.
• 我 六 点 下班，以后，我 去 跟 朋友 吃饭。Since there is nothing that "以后" modifies, this sentence doesn't work.
• 昨天 我 跟 朋友 吃饭以后，去 了 酒吧。Yesterday, when my friends and I were done eating, we went to the bar.
• 昨天 我 跟 朋友 吃饭 了，以后，我们 去 酒吧。Again, since there is nothing for "以后" to modify, it's a bad sentence.

之后

Compared to "以后", "之后" is a little more free. Not only can it happen in the same place, modifying the time, but it can also appear just on its own, meaning something along the lines of "then". While "以后" is dependent on the time, "之后" can stand by itself.

Examples

• 我 要 先 回 家 把 东西 放 下，之后 去 咖啡 厅 找 你。
• 去年 夏天 他 来 过 我 家，之后 再 也 没 见 到 他。
• 房子 涨价 之后，越 来 越 多 的 人 开始 买 房。

See Also

• After a specific time
• In the future in general
• Before and after with "zhiqian" and "zhihou"
• Comparing "yihou" and "houlai"

Sources and Further Reading

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