Mae Ni & Ato De
“Mae Ni” means “Before Something” and “Ato De” means “After Something”. When using “Mae Ni” the verbs before it must be a Normal Form (ie. Kaku (Write), Taberu (Eat), Kau (Buy)) where the verbs used before “Ato De” shall be past tense (ie. Kaita, Tabeta, Katta)
Example
I have to wash my hands before taking breakfast – Asa gohan o taberu mae ni, te o (arau)araimasu.
After taking breakfast, I have to wash my clothes – Asa gohan o tabeta ato de, sentaku o shimasu
I have to tidy up the kitchen, before changing my clothes – Kigaeru mae ni, daidokoro o (katazukeru)katazukemasu
After changing my clothes, I’ll be going out – Kigaeta ato de, (dekakeru)dekakemasu
Meaning : Asa Gohan (Breakfast), Sentaku (Laundry), Kigaeru (Changing Clothes), Daidokoro (Kitchen), Katazukeru (Tidy Up), Dekakeru (Go Out / Depart)
January 13th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
what about: Kara? after
hirugohan o tabete kara shinbun o yomimasu.
January 13th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Hi Monika,
Well “kara” can be used too. Thanks
April 29th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
why use “tabeta” instead of “tabete” ?

April 29th, 2011 at 10:17 pm
Hi Pierra, It’s past tense.
April 29th, 2011 at 10:24 pm
thanks i kinda realized it
July 31st, 2011 at 10:47 pm
after i become a lawyer, i want to help a lot of people– can u please help me translate? urgent! thanks!
October 15th, 2011 at 8:09 am
@Vanessa
hi! i’ll translate it for you. it would be: Bengoshi wo natta ato de, takusan ningen wo (tasukeru)tasukemasu.
October 15th, 2011 at 8:15 am
EDIT: excuse me, i meant “takusan no hito”. Not “takusan ningen”. Ningen = humans lol
October 16th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Morgan: thanks! But I didn’t really need it anymore. But I’m glad to know what it is.
thanks for the effort
October 25th, 2011 at 11:36 pm
How about, if I’m going to deliver a Camera Charger and I wnat to say: “For after you use the camera, maybe you will need the charger.”
October 26th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Pau R
Kamera o tsukatta ato, cha-ja o iru kamo shirenai (カメラを使った後、チャージャをいるかもしれない)
June 27th, 2014 at 9:20 am
Kamera ga tsukattara,cha-ja no hitsuyo kamo shiranai
Sore de ii to omoimasu!!!
March 19th, 2016 at 8:26 am
What if the particle before ‘前に’ is an ‘を’? 、For example:
40歳を前に…
I know it still means ‘before the age of 40′, but why is it using wo instead of the usual structure of, ‘no Mae ni’ or ‘verb plain + Mae ni’?
March 19th, 2016 at 9:26 am
It’s weird “wo” is used. May I know where you got this sentence. It should be a typo error.
March 19th, 2016 at 3:39 pm
I got it from my reading text on Part-time workers in Japan.
Here is the whole sentence:
40歳を前に、フリーター第一世代が思い描いた人生はきしみはじめた。
I know its a small thing, but I just thought it was strange as well.
June 24th, 2017 at 7:32 pm
I’m pretty new to Japanese and was wondering if someone could help me with the example:
I have to wash my hands before taking breakfast – Asa gohan o taberu mae ni, te o (arau)araimasu.
I don’t under stand why the ‘have to’ is there. I thought it would just be: I wash my hands before eating breakfast.
For ‘have to’ shouldn’t it be:
Asa gohan o taberu mae ni, te o arawana-keraba narimasen.
Thanks
January 8th, 2018 at 10:40 pm
David,
you are correct. An alternative could be:
朝ご飯を食べる前に、手を洗う必要があります。
Asagohan o taberu mae ni, te o arau hitsuyou ga arimasu.