Page 253 - Basic Japanese

I go to izakaya after finishing my work.

There are two other things to notice about mae and ato.

Mae refers either to space or to time—‘before’ or ‘in front of.’
Ato usually refers only to time ‘after’—for space you

ordinarily use ushiro ‘behind.’ The second thing is that mae
and ato are nouns and may be modified by prenouns (kono,
sono, ano, etc.) or by a noun + the particle no. For example:

kono mae ‘before this,’ sono ato ‘after that,’ sensō no mae
‘before the war,’ go-han no ato ‘after the meal.’

この前にどこにいましたか。

Kono mae ni doko ni imashita ka.
Where were you before?

少し後でいいですか。
Sukoshi ato de ii desu ka.
Is it all right (if I do it) a little later?

後で見てください。

Ato de mite kudasai.

Please look at it later.

前にも後ろにもありますよ。

Mae ni mo ushiro ni mo arimasu yo.
We have some both in front and behind.

5.18. まで made and うち uchi

The particle made after a noun means ‘as far as, up to’; after

the imperfect mood of a verb or the infinitive (-ku) of some