TSUMUGU · TBCL 3 (est.) · 語法
然後
grammar point · tier 1 · sequence 然後 (and then; after that)
Joins two actions in order: the first finishes, then the next follows.
字源 FORM what the parts do 然 is the loan-word for so, thus — the state just reached; 後 is the trailing foot, after. Together: that done, what comes after.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by One door swings shut behind you, and the next door down the hall opens.
字源 記憶法
框 · Frame
[action 1]，然後 [action 2]
觸 · Trigger
Two things happen in fixed order and you want to chain the second onto the first.
序 · The move
1 Put the first action as a finished clause. Is action 1 over before action 2 begins?
2 Set 然後 at the head of the second clause. Does 然後 sit before the subject/verb of the next action, not after it?
3 State the next action. Swap the two clauses — if the meaning changes, the order is doing real work and 然後 is right.
例 · Examplesshown tap blur
1 我喜歡先first 吃菜再then (next in line) 吃肉，然後and then; after that 才only then 吃飯。
I like to eat the vegetables first, then the meat, and only after that the rice.
界 · Boundary
再 再 sets up the next step inside one plan, often before it happens (先…再…); 然後 reports the next thing once the first is done. 再 plans the order, 然後 narrates it.
一…就… 一…就… fuses two events into near-instant succession (the moment one, the other); 然後 leaves an ordinary gap — the second simply comes afterward.
我吃飯然後我看電視 ✗ → 我吃飯，然後看電視 ✓ (drop the repeated subject; 然後 carries straight into the verb)
我們先去然後吃飯去看電影 ✗ → 我們先去吃飯，然後去看電影 ✓ (然後 heads the second clause, not buried mid-action)
English then floats freely (we ate then left / we then ate); 然後 anchors at the front of the second clause and chains clauses, not single words.