Making Appointments with Friends

後で [ato de] is used to express the concept of "after" or "later" in different contexts.

した後で [shita ato de] after doing...

It attaches to the plain past form of verbs to show what happens after a specific action or event.

食べた後で何をしましょうか [tabeta ato de nani o shimashō ka]
What should we do after eating?

• 食べた後で [tabeta ato de] means "after eating"
• 何をしましょうか [nani o shimashō ka] means "What should we do?"

食べた後でドライブしましょうか [tabeta ato de doraibu shimashō ka]
After eating, shall we go for a drive?

• ドライブしましょうか [doraibu shimashō ka] means "shall we go for a drive?"

勉強した後でサッカーをしましょう [benkyōshita ato de sakkā o shimashō]
After studying, let's play soccer.

• 勉強した後で [benkyōshita ato de] means "after studying"
• サッカーをしましょう [sakkā o shimashō] means "let's play soccer."

• A: 食べた後で何をしましょうか [tabeta ato de nani o shimashō ka]
  What shall we do after we've eaten?
• B: そうですね…何をしましょうか
  Right.. What shall we do?
• A: 食べた後でドライブしましょうか [tabeta ato de doraibu shimashō ka]
  After we've eaten, shall we go on a drive?
• B: ドライブいいですね！
  A drive sounds good!