第二十五天

[nnozomi]

（抱歉迟到了，我有几个交货期...)

以后，after a given time, hereafter
https://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/After_a_specific_time_with_%22yihou%22

Guardian:
所以以后，我希望你能注意安全 (Shen Wei: So hereafter, I hope you will be able to take care. To which Zhao Yunlan responds with 谢谢关心, thank you for your concern, lol.)
你以后就不用在害怕了 (Zhang Ruonan to Wang Yike: you won't need to be frightened any more, *sniff*)
那好，从今天以后我的名字就叫做沈...巍。(Okay, from today on the name I am called will be Shen...Wei.)

My practice:
你能不能快点，我三点以后一定要再出去。
下周以后，我打算每天都弹钢琴。（真的吗呀）

(Oh yeah, I asked 瑜姐 about 我在上海工作 vs 我住在上海。 Her first reaction was the typical native-speaker "Huh? Oh yeah, I guess it does work that way. 很奇怪，为什么呀," but she suggested it might have to do with single-character verbs--you would say 住在 or 睡在 or 坐在, but not 吃饭在 or 工作在 and so on. Another data point?)

Comments

[grayswandir]

That's actually what I was thinking too, but I didn't know if maybe it was just a Canto thing. I'm used to 之后 for something that's after a specific time or event, and 以后 mostly just meaning "from now on." (Which would still work with the third example in the post, I think, since 从今天以后 is also basically "from now on...")

[trobadora]

Thank you, that makes a lot of sense to me! I don't know anything for certain, LOL, but that was my feeling.

[grayswandir]

Okay, so I just ran across a counterexample in the subtitles of the show I'm watching:

自从谢家失去神像以后 (ever since the Xie family lost the statue)

So it seems 以后 works for specific times/events, too...

(The Cantonese spoken dialogue has 之后, though. XD I'm so confused.)

[trobadora]

That seems like a weird subtitling choice because 之后 should work fine in Mandarin?????

*also confused*

[grayswandir]

之后 should work fine in Mandarin?????

Right?? I never know what they're thinking!

[presumenothing]

以后 definitely applies for specific events too, not just present-onwards/from-now-on contexts, but I am absolutely blanking on the difference from 之后 because they're actually… pretty similar??

Consolidating off various search results and my gut feelings:

以后 does have a less time-bounded feel than 之后? So as a veeery general rule I'd go with 之后 for more immediate events, vs 以后 if the subsequent event is indeterminate-time-in-the-future-ish (possibly why it sounds right for the Guardian examples above). And culling from my poor friend Wikitionary, 之后便会有人通知你聚会的时间和地点。(trad: 之後便會有人通知你聚會的時間和地點。) would sound really odd with 以后 instead unless you're only gonna hear back sometime in the next era. (Then again, not inaccurate for most job interviews…)

And in some phrases one is definitely more common/expected than the other, e.g. 从今以后 (which I can now only hear to the tune of 你的名字我的姓氏, 勤深深 edition) over 从今之后.

[nnozomi]

之后 without something in front of it bothers the hell out of me, but that's Japanese damage. 之后 for more immediate events, vs 以后 if the subsequent event is indeterminate-time-in-the-future-ish is really helpful.

[grayswandir]

Oh, that's actually really helpful as a way to make the distinction. So 之后 for more like, "soon after [time/event]," and 以后 more like "from [time/event] onward" (or maybe ~someday in the indefinite future after time/event...)

[trobadora]

Thanks muchly! That makes sense to me, and should be fairly easy to remember.