Learn Hardcore Japanese: resutoran de bangohan wo tabeta ato, okane wo haraimasu. - I pay the money after eating dinner at the restaurant.

The particle で marks the location where an action occurs. Since 食べる (eat) is an action verb, you use で to say “eat at the restaurant.” If you used に, it would instead mark a static location (“is at the restaurant”) rather than the place of action.

Why is 晩ご飯 followed by を in 晩ご飯を食べた?

Here 晩ご飯 (“dinner”) is the direct object of the verb 食べる, so you attach を, the object-marking particle, just like in English “eat dinner.”

Why is the verb in the past form (食べた) before あと?

When you want to say “after doing something,” Japanese grammar requires the verb to be in the plain past form plus あと (“after”). So 食べたあと literally means “the time after having eaten.” You cannot say 食べるあと.

Can you omit or change the particle around あと? For example, 食べたあとで or 食べたあとに?

Yes. You can add で (“食べたあとで”) or に (“食べたあとに”) after あと to explicitly mark the time: “after eating.” Both are correct and common. In casual writing or speech, you often omit them and just use 食べたあと with a comma.

What about using 食べてから instead of 食べたあと?

～てから is another way to say “after doing X,” and it often feels more immediate or sequential. 食べてからお金を払います is perfectly natural and even a bit more conversational than 食べたあと.

Why is 払います in the non-past polite form instead of the past tense?

The sentence describes a routine or future action (“after eating dinner, I will pay”), so it uses the non-past polite form 払います. If you were narrating a past event, you’d switch it to 払いました.

Why is there a comma after あと? Can it be omitted?

The comma separates the subordinate clause (食べたあと) from the main clause (お金を払います), signaling a natural pause. It’s optional—Japanese punctuation is flexible—but it helps clarify the sentence structure.

Why is お金 used here? Is there a more formal word?

お金 simply means “money” and is the everyday term for paying. A more formal phrase might use 料金を支払う (“to pay a fee”), but お金を払う is perfectly fine in casual or polite contexts.

Why do some words have お or ご prefixes, like お金 and ご飯?

These are honorific prefixes that make words more polite. 金 on its own isn’t used as “money” in everyday speech; instead you say お金. Similarly, ご飯 is the standard word for “meal” or “cooked rice”—飯 alone is less common and more casual.

Are there other words for “dinner” besides 晩ご飯?

Yes. You can also say 夕ご飯 (ゆうごはん) or 夕食 (ゆうしょく). 晩ご飯 is the most casual and common, 夕食 is more formal, and 夕ご飯 is in between.