それから Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Conjunction
Essential Meaning: After that / And then / In addition to that
Construction:
- Verb て-Form + それから
- E.g. 話してそれから。。。 [X speaks, and then…]
- E.g. 食べてそれから。。。[X eats, and then…]
- Verb ます-Form + それから
- E.g. 話しそれから。。。[X speaks, and then…]
- E.g. 食べそれから。。。[X eats, and then…]
- い-Adjective stem + く(て) + それから
- E.g. 高く(て)それから。。。[X is expensive, and in addition to that…]
- な-Adjective Stem + で + それから
- E.g. 静かでそれから。。。[X is quiet, and in addition to that…]
- Sentence 1. それかれ Sentence 2.
- E.g. 食べる。それから, 寝る。[X eats. And then, X sleeps.]
- Noun 1 (と) Noun 2 (と) + それから Noun 3
- E.g. 英語 (と)日本語 (と)それから中国語 [English and Japanese, and in addition to that Chinese]
Notes:
- それから is used to enumerate actions, objects, and states that occur in a temporal or physical sequence. Keep in mind that それから is a conjunction, so the verb or adjective that precedes それから does not take a conjugated tense (that job is done by the final verb).
- それから is often used to append some item to a list (e.g. something the speaker has almost forgotten to include).
- E.g. レストランではステーキとサラダとそれからチーズケーキを食べました。[At the restaurant I ate steak, salad…..Oh, and then I ate cheesecake.] Because of それから, it is understood that the cheesecake was eaten later in the temporal sequence than the steak and salad.
- それから is also used to enumerate actions in a temporal order.
- E.g. 昨日は銀座に行って、それから映画を見に行った。[Yesterday I went to Ginza, and then I went to see a movie.]
- それから can also be used to urge or elicit further information from someone.
- E.g. A: 今日はどこへ行きましたか。B: まず東京タワーに登りました。A:それから? B: 美術館に行きました。A: それから?B: デパートに行って食堂で昼ごはんを食べました。[A: Where did you go today? B: First, I went to the top of Tokyo Tower. A: And then? B: I went to the art museum. A: And then? B: I went to the department store and ate lunch at a cafeteria.]
- There is a slight difference between てから and て-Form + それから in that てから is used to convey a sequence of events in which the latter event is emphasized (i.e. After X happens, Y happens). In other words, with てから the first event merely sets the stage for the more relevant second action. Verb て-Form + それから, on the other hand, is used to enumerate a list of actions and emphasizes the sequence itself.
- E.g. 山中さんは三時間ゴルフをしてから、一時間泳いだ。 [After golfing for three hours, Mr. Yamanaka swam for 1 hour.] In this example, the emphasis is clearly placed on the act of swimming, and golfing merely sets the stage.
- E.g. 山中さんは三時間ゴルフをして、それから一時間泳いだ。[Mr Yamanaka went golfing for three hours. And on top of that, he went swimming for 1 hour.] In this example, the emphasis is placed on the fact that golfing and swimming occur sequentially.
- When それから is used to enumerate actions (i.e. with verbs), it is very similar in meaning to し. One subtle difference is that し implies that there are further unstated actions in addition to the stated actions (i.e. the listing is in-exhaustive). それから does not have such an implication.
- E.g. 今日はテニスをして、それから映画も見た。[Today I played tennis, and then I saw a movie.]
- E.g. 今日はテニスもしたし、映画も見た。[Today I played tennis (among other things), and on top of that I saw a movie.] し implies that the speaker’s list of action is in-exhaustive, and that the speaker did other things today besides playing tennis and seeing a movie.
- When two actions are sequential (i.e. they do not occur simultaneously), それから and そして are interchangeable. However unlike それから, そして CAN be used to express simultaneous actions.
- E.g. 音楽を聴いて、そして勉強するのが好きだ。[I like listening to music and then studying. / I like listening to music while studying.] With そして, whether this sentence describes simultaneous or sequential action depends on context.
- E.g. 音楽を聴いて、それから勉強するのが好きだ。[I like listening to music and then studying.] With それから, this sentence can only be interpreted as a set of sequential action.
Example Sentences:
昨日は二時間ぐらい友達と飲んでそれからうちに帰った。[Yesterday I drank with my friends for about 2 hours, and then I went home.]
昨日は二時間ぐらい友達と飲んだ。それから本屋に寄ってうちに帰った。[Yesterday I drank with my friends for about 2 hours. After that I took a pitstop at a bookstore, and then I went home.]
十時まで宿題をしました。それから映画に行きました。[I did homework until 10. After that, I went to the movies.]
昨日は銀座に行って、それから映画を見に行った。[Yesterday I went to Ginza, and then I went to see a movie.]
レストランではステーキとサラダとそれからチーズケーキを食べました。[At the restaurant I ate steak, salad…..Oh, and then I ate cheesecake.]
湖の色は初めは青く、それから緑になりました。[The lake’s color was blue at first. After that, it turned green.]
月曜、火曜、それから木曜もとても忙しいです。[On Monday, Tuesday, as well as Thursday, I’m very busy.]
WILD Examples:
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