# 後(は) and 後で



## Dante404

Hi, I would like to ask about the difference between these two. I recently wrote a composition and I used 後で

僕の友達は外国に着いた後で問題がありました。

However I was corrected, and I don't know why, being the correct sentence this one:

僕の友達は外国に着いた後、問題がありました。

When should we use one or the other? What is the difference between them? 

Thank you in advance.


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## 810senior

The latter sounds better but I don't think the former is a wrong sentence. Either of them means my friend got some issue after he arrived in foreign country, if that's what you meant.


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## wind-sky-wind

Anyway, "問題がありました" sounds awkward.


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## karlalou

I don't see any grammatical problem in your sentence.
Just, strictly speaking, when you say 誰それは問題がある・ありました that sounds like the person is/was problematic.
I guess what you want to say is your friend had a problem, a problem happened to him/her, isn't it?

I would suggest,
僕の友達は外国へ着いた後に（で）問題に*巻き込まれました*
or
僕の友達が外国へ着いた後、問題が*起きました*
or
僕の友達は外国へ行きましたが、到着後間もなく困ったことが起きたと言ってきました etc.

But we do say 問題があって to mean there's a problem, or you got a problem..


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## Dante404

Thank you all for your answers, in fact a Japanese friend just mentioned that issue about 問題がありました (when I actually wanted to say that my friend had a problem).



karlalou said:


> I don't see any grammatical problem in your sentence.
> Just, strictly speaking, when you say 誰それは問題がある・ありました that sounds like the person is/was problematic.
> I guess what you want to say is your friend had a problem, a problem happened to him/her, isn't it?
> 
> I would suggest,
> 僕の友達は外国へ着いた後に（で）問題に*巻き込まれました*
> or
> 僕の友達が外国へ着いた後、問題が*起きました*
> or
> 僕の友達は外国へ行きましたが、到着後間もなく困ったことが起きたと言ってきました etc.
> 
> But we do say 問題があって to mean there's a problem, or you got a problem..



I have one question, in the second sentence "僕の友達が外国へ着いた後、問題が起きました" could we replace the comma after 後 for the particle は？ I mean, would the next sentence have  the same meaning?: 僕の友達が外国へ着いた後*は*問題が起きました


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## karlalou

Dante404 said:


> I have one question, in the second sentence "僕の友達が外国へ着いた後、問題が起きました" could we replace the comma after 後 for the particle は？ I mean, would the next sentence have the same meaning?: 僕の友達が外国へ着いた後*は*問題が起きました


No, usually not. 

Maybe after talking about a different incident, you might want to say は to start another story, to kind of make a comparison like あの時*は*こうだった。この前*は*こうだった。


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## karlalou

After thinking more about the 問題がある, when we just say 「ちょっと問題があって」 the subject is not a person, but it means "There's a problem", but if I say 「私は問題があって、～」 it means I'm admitting I have a personality issue.


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## 810senior

Here's another suggestion: 僕の友達が外国に着い*てから*、（ある）問題が起きました。　(in that case, 着いた後は sounds unfamiliar to me. 後に or 後で is fine)
Aてから, Bする means after (you) A, (you) B.


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## frequency

Dante404 said:


> When should we use one or the other? What is the difference between them?


後でやります。
後で知った。
You know, this usage of 後で is mixed in your first one. But that's okay and wouldn't especially be error.
The second sounds better and formal as 810 said.


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## Dante404

Thank you very much for your responses. Very interesting that issue about　問題がある since I didn't know it, so I'm going to take notes to not forget it and make the same mistake again.

But, I keep wondering if there is actually a difference (in nuance or in whatever) between 後(で/に) and 後、.

For example, let's take this sentence: 

僕の友達が外国へ着いた*後、*問題が起きました
僕の友達が外国へ着いた*後で*問題が起きました


Is it really the same thing? Does both sentences have the same meaning? Or, on the contrary, do they have a different nuance?


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## karlalou

Dante404 said:


> 僕の友達が外国へ着いた*後、*問題が起きました
> 僕の友達が外国へ着いた*後で*問題が起きました
> Is it really the same thing? Does both sentences have the same meaning? Or, on the contrary, do they have a different nuance?


I say 「後、」 is a lot more common among natives, not only on writings but also in conversations, but 「後で」 is also not grammatically wrong. The difference makes no difference in meaning.


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## Dante404

karlalou said:


> I say 「後、」 is a lot more common among natives, not only on writings but also in conversations, but 「後で」 is also not grammatically wrong. The difference makes no difference in meaning.


Thank you for your explanation, that is what I really needed to know!


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## frequency

Your question would be 後、 vs 後で、 and both are basically okay.

後 is defined as an adverb and noun, and in yours it is an adverb working _like_ a conjunction.
But 後で is possibly a set phrase, meaning _later_.
Sometimes this 後で can replace 後.



Dante404 said:


> 僕の友達が外国へ着いた*後、*問題が起きました
> 僕の友達が外国へ着いた*後で*問題が起きました


盗まれた後気付く
盗まれた後で気付く

..Either one is okay, though more natural is the first one.
Sorry I think this must be something undefined clearly, but at least that I can say the use of 後で instead of 後 isn't very weird.


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## Dante404

frequency said:


> Your question would be 後、 vs 後で、 and both are basically okay.
> 
> 後 is defined as an adverb and noun, and in yours it is an adverb working _like_ a conjunction.
> But 後で is possibly a set phrase, meaning _later_.
> Sometimes this 後で can replace 後.
> 
> 
> 盗まれた後気付く
> 盗まれた後で気付く
> 
> ..Either one is okay, though more natural is the first one.
> Sorry I think this must be something undefined clearly, but at least that I can say the use of 後で instead of 後 isn't very weird.




Ok, I think it's clear to me. I only need to get more used to Japanese to see which one is more natural in specific contexts.

Thank you very much


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