And their derivations…
In a recent meeting, we looked at the two prepositions NACH and VOR. A class member was confused by all the derivations and how they behaved differently grammatically in sentences. So we looked at several examples and tried to find patterns.
NACH and VOR are prepositions. When followed by a respective noun, they constitute a prepositional noun phrase. In their semantic core, they are two opposites on a continuum: NACH denoting everything after a (temporal) reference point, VOR denoting something before a (temporal or spatial) reference point.
Examples:
Spatial:
der Park – vor dem Park
die Schule – vor der Schule
das Museum – vor dem Museum
Temporal:
das Mittagessen – vor dem Mittagessen
der Abend – vor dem Abend
die Veranstaltung – vor der Veranstaltung
The meaning of VOR can be spatial or temporal. The meaning of NACH is only temporal.
Nach dem Mittagessen (gehen wir eine Runde spazieren).
Nach der Arbeit (gehe ich einkaufen).
Grammar note: The noun that follows one of the two is in the so-called dative case i.e. the form of the article changes.
Derivations
vorher – nachher
bevor – nachdem
davor – danach
I will go through the pairs one by one, but start with a little narrative concerning NACHHER.
Interlude – NACHHER
When working on my flashcard sets, I often come across translation problems. Although German and English have common roots and a lot in common, there are often differences in little things that I sometimes only notice when I am in the process of creating my German/English flashcards. To give an example: When I was creating cards for the six German modal verbs (KÖNNEN, MÜSSEN, SOLLEN, DÜRFEN, WOLLEN and MÖGEN) – in this case for MÜSSEN – I wrote:
Du musst nachher einkaufen gehen.
On the other side of the card I had written:
You have to go shopping later.
Being a native speaker of both languages, I have an accute feeling for differences that do not always match dictionary translations. (Especially if the dictionary entries are without wider context of use.) I had to think for a moment. All I knew was that the translation did not feel right. You have to go shopping later would translate into German as:
Du musst später einkaufen gehen.
When you check NACHHER in bilingual dictionaries, you get ‘later’ or ‘afterwards’. LEO, a very thorough and extensive dictionary that provides long lists of possible translations, also provides ‘later on’.
When I say to someone: “Du musst nachher einkaufen gehen” I am expressing what I wish, want or demand (depending on our relationship) you do (go shopping) at a later point in time, but still ‘today’. I played around with some options:
You’ll have to go shopping later.
This expresses you will have to go shopping later, because there isn’t time now. The later is stressed. You will have to do it at a later point in time. Later does sound close enough, but not quite right. When I say the German Du musst nachher einkaufen gehen, NACHHER carries no stress. The intonation makes a difference.
You have to go shopping later on. You’ll have to go shopping some time later today.
Better.
You will have to go shopping later on, some time this day. We still need things for today. You can’t do it now, but it would be great if you could do it some time today, not tomorrow.
NACHHER is deictic, meaning it is only comprehensible in the context of an ongoing conversation. It denotes a point in time in the future. It is not specific as to when exactly this point in time is. LATER might come close as a translation, but it is not quite the same. At least not to me.
*
VORHER und NACHHER
From the little interlude above you already got an idea what NACHHER means.
Let’s look at some more examples and try to describe its lexico-grammar:
- Ich rufe dich nachher an
- Sie wollen nachher zusammen joggen gehen.
- Wir können uns nachher zum Kaffeetrinken treffen.
- Lass uns nachher reden.
- Du kannst nachher vorbeikommen. Ich bin zuhause.
- Er möchte sich nachher ein paar Fahrräder ansehen. Er braucht ein neues.
- Ich kann dich nachher abholen.
- Ihr könnt nachher was zusammen machen.
Let’s look at the structural contexts of the examples above, extrapolate and try to describe.
Nachher
- was zusammen tun
- jemanden abholen
- vorbeikommen
- zusammen joggen gehen
- sich treffen
In many of the examples above, you could just exchange NACHHER with VORHER.
- Ich rufe dich vorher an.
- Sie wollen vorher zusammen joggen gehen.
- Wir können uns vorher zum Kaffeetrinken treffen.
- Lass uns vorher reden.
- Du kannst vorher vorbeikommen. Ich bin zuhause.
- Er möchte sich vorher ein paar Fahrräder ansehen. Er braucht ein neues.
- Ich kann dich vorher abholen.
- Ihr könnt vorher was zusammen machen.
Note that the different semantics of NACHHER and VORHER do have consequences. Without a wider context of utterance, you would not know exactly what’s going on. With VORHER you need more contextual knowledge. Where NACHHER can stand alone, VORHER implies knowledge of ‘before what event or time will we be doing what you suggest’. For the lexico-grammatical analysis, however, this is not important. Structurally the two behave the same.
Preliminary structural description, main observation:
*
BEVOR and NACHDEM (examples)
- Ich muss noch was erledigen, bevor ich kommen kann.
- Wir müssen das Navi einstellen bevor wir losfahren.
- Bevor sie hach Hannover zogen, wohnten sie in Berlin.
- Bevor ich dir helfen kann, muss ich mehr darüber wissen.
- Er zog eine warme Jacke an, bevor er das Haus verließ.
- Sie packte ein paar Sachen in ihre Tasche, bevor sie ins Krankenhaus fuhr.
As a little experiment, let’s try to replace all BEVORs with NACHDEMs and see if they behave as equivalently as VORHER/NACHHER do.
- *Ich muss noch was erledigen, nachdem ich kommen kann.
- *Wir müssen das Navi einstellen. nachdem wir losfahren.
- *Nachdem sie hach Hannover zogen, wohnten sie in Berlin.
- *Nachdem ich dir helfen kann, muss ich mehr darüber wissen.
- ?Er zog eine warme Jacke an, nachdem er das Haus verließ.
- *Sie packte ein paar Sachen in ihre Tasche, nachdem sie ins Krankenhaus fuhr.
No, doesn’t work. How can we fix the problem?
(To be continued)