Breakdown of wǒ xiàbān yǐhòu qù chāoshì, shùnbiàn mǎi yìdiǎnr shuǐguǒ.
Questions & Answers about wǒ xiàbān yǐhòu qù chāoshì, shùnbiàn mǎi yìdiǎnr shuǐguǒ.
以后 usually comes after the event it refers to, forming a time phrase:
- 下班以后 = after (I) get off work
- 吃饭以后 = after eating
- 考试以后 = after the exam
Putting 以后 before the verb (以后下班) is not natural here.
At the beginning of a sentence, 以后 can mean “in the future”, not “after X”:
- 以后我想去中国。 = In the future, I want to go to China.
So 下班以后 is the normal and correct order for “after (I) get off work”.
Mandarin usually shows time through time expressions and context, not verb changes.
- 下班以后 = “after I get off work” → a future time relative to now
- There is no past marker like 了 on the main action (去超市, 买水果).
So the default interpretation is:
- “After I get off work, I will go to the supermarket and buy some fruit (while I’m there).”
You could make the future more explicit with 要 / 会:
- 我下班以后要去超市，顺便买一点儿水果。
- 我下班以后会去超市，顺便买一点儿水果。
But in everyday speech, they are often omitted when the time is already clear.
Both are possible, with a small nuance:
- 下班以后 – very common, neutral: “after I get off work”
- 下了班以后 – also correct; 了 emphasizes the completion of “getting off work”
In many everyday contexts, they are almost interchangeable:
- 我下班以后去超市。
- 我下了班以后去超市。
Both can be understood as “After I get off work, I go / will go to the supermarket.”
For a beginner, you can safely treat them as equivalent.
Chinese often drops repeated subjects when they are clearly understood from context.
Full form would be:
- 我下班以后去超市，(我)顺便买一点儿水果。
Because the subject in both clauses is clearly 我, it is natural to omit the second 我.
This makes the sentence smoother and less repetitive, and is very typical Chinese style.
顺便 literally means something like “conveniently / while you’re at it / as a side thing”.
It implies:
- There is a main action: going to the supermarket (去超市).
- While doing that main action, you also do an extra, easy action: buying some fruit (买一点儿水果).
So the idea is:
- “I’ll go to the supermarket after work, and while I’m there / since I’m going anyway, I’ll also buy some fruit.”
It is not the same as:
- 然后 – “then / after that” (time sequence)
- 和 / 并且 – “and” (just linking actions)
顺便 adds the meaning of “incidentally, without extra trouble.”
Yes, you can move 顺便, and the nuance changes:
我下班以后去超市，顺便买一点儿水果。
- Main action: going to the supermarket
- Side action: buying fruit while at the supermarket
我下班以后顺便去超市买一点儿水果。
- Implies there is some other main plan after work, and
- Going to the supermarket to buy fruit is the side or convenient extra action.
In the original sentence, the trip to the supermarket is the main thing; buying fruit is a small extra task during that trip.
Both are common. The 儿 is an -r sound (儿化) often heard in the north of China (e.g. Beijing):
- 一点儿 (yìdiǎnr) – more northern / standard in textbooks, especially before nouns
- 一点 (yìdiǎn) – more common in the south, also widely understood everywhere
In this sentence:
- 买一点儿水果 is the typical northern-style expression.
- 买一点水果 is also acceptable and understood.
A useful rule of thumb:
- 一点儿 + noun: 一点儿水果, 一点儿水
- Verb/adj + 一点儿: 便宜一点儿, 说快一点儿
But in real life, you will hear both 一点 and 一点儿, depending on region and accent.
When you use 一点儿 to mean “some / a little (non-specific amount)”, the noun is often treated like a mass noun, so no measure word is needed:
- 一点儿水果 = some fruit
- 一点儿水 = some water
- 一点儿钱 = some money
If you want to specify number of items, then you use a measure word:
- 几个苹果 = a few apples
- 两斤水果 = two jin of fruit
- 三盒草莓 = three boxes of strawberries
In this sentence, 水果 is just a non-specific amount, so 一点儿水果 (no extra classifier) is natural.
下班 is a fixed phrase meaning “to finish work / get off work (for the day)”.
- 下班以后 = after (I) get off work (after the workday ends)
工作以后 would more naturally mean “after starting to work” or “after you have a job”, which is a different idea:
- 工作以后，我就很少出去玩了。
= After I started working, I rarely went out to play.
So for the daily situation “after work today”, 下班以后 (or 下了班以后) is the normal expression.
Yes, but the meaning changes:
- 顺便买一点儿水果 – “buy some fruit incidentally / while I’m at it”
- 然后买一点儿水果 – “then buy some fruit” (just next in time, no “convenient extra” idea)
Compare:
我下班以后去超市，然后买一点儿水果。
→ After work I go to the supermarket, then I buy some fruit. (a simple sequence)我下班以后去超市，顺便买一点儿水果。
→ After work I go to the supermarket and, while I’m there anyway, I’ll also buy some fruit.
So 顺便 adds the sense of “extra, convenient task”, which 然后 does not.
The normal, natural word order in Chinese is:
Subject + (time) + (place) + verb + object
So:
- 我下班以后去超市
= I, after work, go to the supermarket. (correct and natural)
我去超市下班以后 is incorrect; the time phrase 下班以后 should not come after the main verb phrase like that. Acceptable alternatives are:
- 下班以后，我去超市。
- 我去超市，下班以后顺便买一点儿水果。 (different meaning)
But you should not split it as 我去超市下班以后.
No. In Mandarin you normally need a verb of motion like 去 before a destination:
- 去超市 = go to the supermarket
- 去学校 = go to school
- 去北京 = go to Beijing
我下班以后超市 is not grammatical because 超市 is a place noun, and you need a verb (去) to say you’re going there.
So 我下班以后去超市 is the correct structure.
They are close, but not identical:
- 下班以后 = after getting off work; the action happens later, after that point.
- 下班的时候 = when (it is) getting off work; the action happens around that time.
Examples:
我下班以后去超市。
→ I go (will go) to the supermarket after work.我下班的时候去超市。
→ I go to the supermarket around the time I get off work (maybe right as I leave the office).
In many casual contexts they may feel similar, but 以后 emphasizes “after”, while 的时候 emphasizes “when / at the time that”.