לפני and אחרי: Before and After | Hebrew Grammar

לפני and אחרי place one event, object or person on opposite sides of a reference point: לפני is “before” or “in front of,” while אחרי is “after” or, in motion, “behind/following.” English uses before and after directly before both nouns and clauses. Hebrew makes the boundary visible: a noun follows the preposition directly, but a finite clause needs ש־.

Noun directly, clause with ש־

Use bare לפני or אחרי before a noun phrase. Add ש־ when what follows has its own subject and finite verb. The following pairs describe essentially the same situation while changing only the grammatical shape of the reference point.

שטפנו ידיים לפני הארוחה.

shatáfnu yadáyim lifnéi ha'arukhá

We washed our hands before the meal.

שטפנו ידיים לפני שאכלנו.

shatáfnu yadáyim lifnéi she'akhálnu

We washed our hands before we ate.

התקשרתי אליה אחרי הפגישה.

hitkashárti eléha akharéi hapgishá

I called her after the meeting.

התקשרתי אליה אחרי שנפגשנו.

hitkashárti eléha akharéi shenifgáshnu

I called her after we met.

The same contrast holds when the noun and clause are longer. ש־ is not a translation of English that here; it is the linker that lets a preposition-like temporal expression introduce a whole clause.

בדקנו את הדרכונים לפני הטיסה ללונדון.

badáknu et hadarkoním lifnéi hatisá lelóndon

We checked the passports before the flight to London.

בדקנו את הדרכונים לפני שטסנו ללונדון.

badáknu et hadarkoním lifnéi shetásnu lelóndon

We checked the passports before we flew to London.

שתינו קפה אחרי הסרט.

shatínu kafé akharéi haséret

We had coffee after the film.

שתינו קפה אחרי שראינו את הסרט.

shatínu kafé akharéi shera'ínu et haséret

We had coffee after we saw the film.

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Use a mechanical first test: can the words after לפני or אחרי stand as a sentence with their own subject and verb? If yes, insert ש־. If they name a thing, time or event, do not.

The tense inside לפני ש־ and אחרי ש־ depends on the time relationship and discourse context, not on the preposition alone. That larger system belongs on temporal conjunctions and temporal clauses.

Time, space and order

Temporal use is the most frequent, but the underlying image is spatial. לפני literally locates something “at the face/front of” a reference point; אחרי places motion or order after it.

המונית מחכה לפני הבניין.

hamonít mekhaká lifnéi habinyán

The taxi is waiting in front of the building.

הילד רץ אחרי הכלב עד הגינה.

hayéled rats akharéi hakélev ad haginá

The boy ran after the dog as far as the garden.

In an ordered list, אחרי means that one item follows another. לפני works symmetrically.

בתור אני לפניך, אבל דנה אחריך.

batór aní lefanékha, avál dána akharékha

In the queue I'm ahead of you, but Dana is behind you. (to a man)

The ordinary location “behind the building” is מאחורי הבניין, not מלפני הבניין. מלפני combines מ־ with לפני and means “from before” or “from in front of.” That form is fully grammatical, but it does not mean “behind.”

המונית יצאה מלפני המלון ונסעה לשדה התעופה.

hamonít yats'á milifnéi hamalón venas'á lisdé hate'ufá

The taxi pulled away from in front of the hotel and drove to the airport.

Personal forms: a plural-base pattern

Both prepositions take the suffix set used with historically plural or plural-shaped bases. The forms behave as though the suffix follows a construct plural ending, which produces sequences such as ־ניי, ־ניו and ־ניהם. This is why they do not look like the suffixes of simple ל־ or ב־.

Person	לפני	Reading	אחרי	Reading
me	לְפָנַיי — לפניי	lefanái	אַחֲרַיי — אחריי	akharái
you (m.sg.)	לְפָנֶיךָ — לפניך	lefanékha	אַחֲרֶיךָ — אחריך	akharékha
you (f.sg.)	לְפָנַיִיךְ — לפנייך	lefanáyikh	אַחֲרַיִיךְ — אחרייך	akharáyikh
him	לְפָנָיו — לפניו	lefanáv	אַחֲרָיו — אחריו	akharáv
her	לְפָנֶיהָ — לפניה	lefanéha	אַחֲרֶיהָ — אחריה	akharéha
us	לְפָנֵינוּ — לפנינו	lefanéinu	אַחֲרֵינוּ — אחרינו	akharéinu
you (m.pl.)	לִפְנֵיכֶם — לפניכם	lifneikhém	אַחֲרֵיכֶם — אחריכם	akhareikhém
them (m.)	לִפְנֵיהֶם — לפניהם	lifneihém	אַחֲרֵיהֶם — אחריהם	akhareihém

Notice the vowel shift in the last two לפני forms: lefan- becomes lifn- before the plural addressee or referent endings. There is no productive shortcut that predicts every vowel here; learn the high-frequency forms as a family. The page on plural-base prepositions places this pattern beside its relatives.

יש לפנינו עוד שעה של נסיעה.

yesh lefanéinu od sha'á shel nesi'á

We still have another hour of driving ahead of us.

אל תלכו אחריי; אני לא מכיר את הדרך.

al telkhú akharái; aní lo makír et hadérekh

Don't follow me; I don't know the way. (m. speaker)

Historically, לפני is ל־ plus פנים, “face,” while אחרי belongs to the second, suffix-taking base of אחר. The history explains the plural-base inflection; learners still need to memorize the actual modern vowels.

אחרי, אחרי זה and אחר כך

Before an expressed complement, use אחרי normally: אחרי העבודה “after work.” In (informal) conversation, bare אחרי can also mean “after that/afterward” when the omitted reference point is obvious. אחר כך is the neutral, explicit adverb “afterwards/then,” and אחרי זה is especially common in speech.

ומה קרה אחרי?

umá kará akharéi

And what happened afterward? (informal; context supplies 'that')

קודם נסיים לאכול, ואחר כך נדבר.

kódem nesayém le'ekhól, ve'akhár kakh nedabér

First we'll finish eating, and then we'll talk.

Do not turn this register preference into a false grammatical prohibition: bare אחרי occurs in casual speech, while אחר כך works across a wider range of contexts.

Common Mistakes

1. Omitting ש־ before a finite clause.

❌ התקשרתי לפני יצאת מהבית

Incorrect — יצאת is a finite verb, so the clause must begin לפני ש־.

✅ התקשרתי לפני שיצאת מהבית.

hitkashárti lifnéi sheyatsáta mehabáyit

I called before you left the house. (to a man)

2. Inserting ש־ before a noun phrase.

❌ ניפגש אחרי שהארוחה

Incorrect — הארוחה is a noun phrase, not a clause: use אחרי הארוחה.

✅ ניפגש אחרי הארוחה ליד הכניסה.

nipagésh akharéi ha'arukhá leyád haknisá

We'll meet after the meal by the entrance.

3. Putting an infinitive directly after לפני or אחרי. English permits before leaving, but Hebrew normally packages the event as a noun or a finite ש־ clause.

❌ תכבה את האור לפני לצאת

Incorrect — לפני does not directly license this infinitive; use לפני היציאה or לפני שאתה יוצא.

✅ תכבה את האור לפני היציאה.

tekhabé et ha'ór lifnéi hayetsi'á

Turn off the light before leaving. (to a man)

4. Using מלפני for the intended meaning “behind.” מלפני is grammatical with the different meaning “from before/from in front of.”

מלפני itself is grammatical, but it means “from before/from in front of,” not “behind.” For a stationary location behind a landmark, use מאחורי.

✅ האופניים נמצאים מאחורי המחסן.

ha'ofanáyim nimtsa'ím me'akhoréi hamakhsán

The bicycles are behind the storage shed.

Key Takeaways

Put a noun directly after לפני or אחרי, but put ש־ before a finite clause.
Both words organize time, space and sequence; context selects “before/in front of” or “after/following.”
Their personal forms use the plural-base suffix pattern: לפניי, לפנינו, אחריי, אחריהם.
“Behind” is מאחורי, not מלפני.
אחר כך is the broadly useful adverb “afterwards”; bare אחרי is also heard when casual context supplies the missing reference point.

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