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For the sentence 'I watched a movie after I had food', are the following translations equivalent? Additionally, is the 3rd translation incorrect (is the ...了...以后... usage valid)?

  1. 我吃了饭看电影。
  2. 我吃饭以后看电影。
  3. 我吃了饭以后看电影。

Thank you.

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3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Briefly, I'd parse them as

  1. I ate dinner and watched a movie.
  2. I'll watch a movie after I eat dinner.
  3. After I　ate dinner, I watched a movie. OR I'll watch a movie after I've eaten dinner.

以后 corresponds exactly to the English equivalent of 'after', while 了 has some more leeway in how it's used. All three of your sentences imply that you ate, and then you watched a movie (arguable for the first. The English equivalent would probably be "I ate food, then watched a movie"). I think 3 would be the closest in meaning to your original sentence. Although if you said that before a meal time, I'd assume you meant the upcoming meal, while if it was late at night, I'd assume that you'd already ate and watched.

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As @Dan asked, do you think 我吃了饭以后看电影了 will make the 3rd sentence clearer, to mean that both actions have been completed? – Icarus Feb 28 '12 at 16:26
I think I would say 我吃了饭以后看了电影, but to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what is more 'grammatically' correct! – tttt555 Feb 28 '12 at 16:37
I'd also add that 我吃完饭看了电影 would also be an alternative, but doesn't use 以后. – tttt555 Feb 28 '12 at 16:42
I think my text book uses "... le jiu..." to indicate something occuring after something else. Ie: 我吃饭了就看电影。I left the book at the office so I can't confirm. – Phil Gan Mar 4 '12 at 19:31
@PhilGan: Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the exact meaning of that would be 'As soon as I had food, I watched a movie.' I guess it could be used, depending on the situation. – Icarus Apr 1 '12 at 19:00
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up vote 0 down vote

I'm not a native speaker, but I don't like the first sentence, I don't think it's correct.

To me the 2nd sentence implies a future event (I will watch a movie after I eat), whereas the 3rd sentence implies a past event (I watched a movie after I ate) although I would like to ask a native speaker whether there should be another 了 in that sentence such as 我吃了饭以后看电影了.

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Thanks! The first sentence is structurally and grammatically correct, although I was confused about the meaning. – Icarus Feb 28 '12 at 16:21
up vote 0 down vote

When translating sentences that are in the past into Chinese it is always best to use time markers such as "yesterday", "this morning," etc. It is time markers that put sentences in a "time context," not "了" or other particles. Strictly speaking your sentences are not equivalent, because they are ambiguous when it comes to tense. Sentence 2, for example, could be in the past, present or future tense depending on context. Something similar is going on in the other two sentences. As to how to translate your sentence, I would use the pattern I would use the pattern "先...再" (or 然后) and "了" or the word "接着" and "了."

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Yes, I understand - I guess with some time word specified, it wouldn't be so ambiguous. Thank you! – Icarus Apr 1 '12 at 19:04

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