Sometimes it seems to be 「ご」and sometimes 「あと」. How is 後 read after timespans, such as 「2年後」、「12時間後」 or 「3日後」？ Is there a rule, and, if so, what is it?
When would it be あと as a suffix?
1 Like
I believe the quick and dirty rule is:
If it comes after a verb, it’s あと.
雨が降った後 …
If it comes after a noun + の, it’s あと.
雨の後 …
If it comes after a noun without の, it’s probably part of a compound, and in that case it’s probably pronounced ご. (There is also the Joyo reading こう, but it seems to only occur at the start of words.)
雨後
If it comes before a span of time (or some other quantity), it is pronounced あと.
後３日、雨が降る。 (“In three days, it will rain.”)
Maggie Sensei has a page about this that might be of interest to you:
http://maggiesensei.com/2018/01/22/how-to-use-後-あと-ato/
6 Likes
The title mentioned timespans, so I read
As “Sometimes it seems to be 「ご」(in timespans) and sometimes 「あと」(in timespans)”
But I guess that was just listing possible readings. Yeah, it’s ご if it’s a suffix like that.
I suppose it’s possible, in casual Japanese, for people to drop a particle that would result in it being right next to another word, but not meant to be a suffix. In that case it could be あと, but the role would be different.
6 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.