xiàbān yǐhòu, tā chángcháng qù fùjìn de tǐyùguǎn jiànshēn.

After work he often goes to the nearby gym to work out.

Breakdown of xiàbān yǐhòu, tā chángcháng qù fùjìn de tǐyùguǎn jiànshēn.

• 他tā: he
• 去qù: to go
• 常常chángcháng: often
• 以后yǐhòu: after

Questions & Answers about xiàbān yǐhòu, tā chángcháng qù fùjìn de tǐyùguǎn jiànshēn.

Why is 以后 placed after 下班? Could we say 以后下班 instead of 下班以后?

下班以后 is a fixed and natural pattern: [event] + 以后 = “after [event]”.

• 下班以后 = after (he) gets off work
• 吃饭以后 = after eating
• 毕业以后 = after graduating

Putting 以后 before the verb (以后下班) is generally not how you say “after work” in Chinese.

You can start a sentence with 以后 in a broader, more abstract sense:

• 以后，下班我就不加班了。
  “In the future, after work I won’t work overtime anymore.”

Here 以后 means “from now on / in the future”, not “after (doing X)” the way 下班以后 does. So for “after work” as a time phrase, 下班以后 is the normal form.

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Could you say just 下班，他常常去附近的体育馆健身。 and drop 以后?

You can drop 以后 in casual speech:

• 下班，他常常去附近的体育馆健身。

Listeners will still understand this as “When he gets off work, he often goes to the nearby gym to work out.”

However:

• 下班以后 is more explicit and sounds a bit more standard and clear as a time expression.
• 下班 alone often feels like a short clause “(when he) gets off work” and is usually followed by 以后, 就, 了, etc.

So 下班以后 is the most natural and textbook-like way to say “after work” here.

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What exactly does 常常 do here? Where can it go in the sentence?