Main Website Course Library Search

Lesson 18 of 43

然后 in Context

CONGRATULATIONS! 
A NEW WORD HAS BEEN UNLOCKED
然后

Usage 1 - "(conj.) and then, after that": 

Sentence:

你应该先做完这件事,然后再去做另一件事。  

English:

You should finish this thing first and then go do the other thing.

Top-Down Words:

应该 yinggāi - should, ought to, must
先 xiān - firstly
做 zuò - to do, make, to cook
件 jiàn - measure word for articles of clothing or general matters
事 shì - thing, matter, affair


Sentence:

然后飞机飞走了。  

English:

And then the plane flew away.


*Sentence:

然后把自己的事给别人做。

English:

And then give your own tasks to someone else to do.

Top-Down Words:

把 bǎ - (preposition used to shift the object to before the verb, which must be accompanied by some other word or expression, often a verb complement)
事 shì - thing, matter, affair 
给 gěi - to give
别人 bié - other people
做 zuò - to do, make, to cook



Need a Reminder?

The Six Steps to Learning Words

Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes

3 Questions About Words

Great Job! Keep Going! 后来 in Context
Comments   5

Gavin Meakin

How is 再 operating in 然后再去做另一件事? I'm guessing it's a secondary meaning of "and then". I'm just a bit confused why it follows 然后. Is this an intentional double up of "and then" for emphasis, or is 然后再 just a common way of saying "and then"?

REPLY

Mandarin Blueprint

再 here is emphasizing to do this second thing AFTER a previously stated thing. It's not 100% necessary and without it would have the same meaning grammatically but it is useful for emphasizing the point.

REPLY

Gavin Meakin

Awesome! Cheers for the quick reply :)

REPLY

Al (泰光) Roy (王)

然后把自己的事给别人做。

So based on what I have read about using 把, I'm guessing that if I don't add 做 at the end of the sentence, I could write it simply as 然后自己的事给别人。(?)

对不对?

REPLY

Mandarin Blueprint

You need the 把 as it's needed for the action 给别人 that goes with it.

REPLY