# 然后呢



## James Bates

me: 我想换个工作。(I would like to change jobs.)
him: 然后呢

What does 然后呢 mean?


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## YangMuye

So?


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## retrogradedwithwind

Me: I would like to change my job.
Him: then what?


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## Asadullah

James Bates said:


> me: 我想换个工作。(I would like to change jobs.)
> him: 然后呢
> 
> What does 然后呢 mean?



I don't think a real Chinese person would say, "然后呢" in reply to what you said. It's not in any of my dictionaries.


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## lisawang123

“然后呢” means "then?"
In this context, it means,"so you want to change your job, then any plans you have?"


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## Skatinginbc

So, what would you do next?  What's next?


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## StargazerT3

Asadullah said:


> I don't think a real Chinese person would say, "然后呢" in reply to what you said. It's not in any of my dictionaries.



Actually... I think we do.

But "然后呢?" is a super unfriendly reply. It's a clear signal of impatience(不耐烦) and hostility(敌意) of the speaker.

That has being said, most well-educated Chinese are friendly and polite to others.


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## brofeelgood

StargazerT3 said:


> But "然后呢?" is a super unfriendly reply. It's a clear signal of impatience(不耐烦) and hostility(敌意) of the speaker.



It can be, but I disagree that it has to be. Your tone is what mostly determines whether you sound rude or not.


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## SuperXW

StargazerT3 said:


> Actually... I think we do.
> But "然后呢?" is a super unfriendly reply. It's a clear signal of impatience(不耐烦) and hostility(敌意) of the speaker.
> That has being said, most well-educated Chinese are friendly and polite to others.


We do, but I don't think it's unfriendly at all.


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## Skatinginbc

I take the same view as Bro: It can be unfriendly, but it does not have to be.

Why can it possibly be construed as "unfriendly"?  Well, when you say 然后呢, it sort of implies that you think you haven't heard the full story (there is more to come) or you are expecting something else.  What if that's actually all he has to say?

Let me illustrate my point with an inappropriate use of 然后呢:
A: 我父親昨晚去世了 (a life changing event)
B: 然后呢?
A: 什麼"然后呢"?  你覺得我父親去世了還不夠吗? 還是你覺得小事一樁, 漠不關心?

Let's apply the same reasoning to our example:
A: 我想换个工作 (a life changing decision)
B: 然后呢?
A: 什麼"然后呢"?  你覺得我换工作還不夠吗? 還是你覺得小事一樁, 漠不關心?


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## retrogradedwithwind

When I talk to somebody and he says a lot to me but suddenly he stops, and for a quite long time he doesn't say anything, at that time I probably say some words like 然后呢，接着呢，后来呢，下面呢 etc. to continue the conservation


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## StargazerT3

#8 and #9, indeed I agree that the tone matters. And yes, I agree with #10 concerning the life-changing event and the use of "然后呢?"

In my perspective, "然后呢?" itself often implies the unwillingness to talk. If someone really want to ask "so what's next?", he/she will probably use some other expression here. Let me give you some examples:

Case 1
A: 我今天去看了场电影！
B: 然后呢？(= "然后你想说啥？／所以你想说啥？／所以呢？" 的省略 = so what? then what?)
(B wants to kill the conversation)

Case 2
A: ...
B: ...
...
A: 所以这时候我女朋友就气得说要和我分了
B: 我去不是吧？然后呢？（＝"然后发生了啥？" 的省略, but people just don't tend to abbreviate it here）
(B wants to know more about A's story)

Case 3
B: A你能不教我一下这道题啊？
A: 好啊，没问题，让我看一下。
A: 首先你需要在这里做一条辅助线，然后根据定理，这两个角度相等。
B: (做完以上步骤) 然后呢？（＝"然后这里我该怎么做？" 的省略）
A: 嗯，好，然后我们根据三角形内角和为180度，知道这个角...
(B needs further help from A)

I might be overthinking, but obviously:
"然后你想说啥？／所以你想说啥？"
"然后发生了啥？／接下来发生了什么？"
"然后这里我该怎么做？／现在我该做啥？"
are completely different.

"然后呢?" is actually an abbreviation of a longer sentence, but the context will indicate what was the abbreviated sentence.

If the context was being you want to start the conversation with someone else, while that person immediately reply you with "然后呢?", then the abbreviated sentence must be "然后你想说啥?"

If the "然后呢?" occurs in the middle of the conversation, then it could be "然后你想说啥?" or "然后发生了啥？", but it really depends on the tone.

I don't know what do you think, but this is a really subtle problem.

But in the case of #1... it's not in the middle of a conversation, the person ("me") was trying to start a new conversation. The other person ("him") was just trying to kill the conversation. Thus it's pretty clear that the "然后呢?" here is an abbreviation of "然后你想说啥?"


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## SuperXW

Usually, I say 然后呢 to mean I'm interested, I'm listening.
If I want to be super unfriendly, I'll just say "bullshit", "get lost", or nothing.


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