Learn Hardcore Japanese: undoukai no ato, taiikukan de misosiru wo nomimasita. - After the sports day, I drank miso soup in the gym.

運動会 literally combines 運動 (exercise) and 会 (gathering), but it specifically refers to a school sports day or athletics festival. Typically held once a year, students compete in races, relays, and other fun events.

Why is の used between 運動会 and あと?

The particle の links two nouns together, showing possession or attribution. Here, 運動会のあと means “the time after the sports day.” You cannot say 運動会あと; you need の to connect the noun 運動会 to あと.

What is the difference among あと, あとで, and あとに?

あと (with の after a noun) is a noun meaning “after X.”
あとで attaches directly to a noun or verb to mean “after doing/after X, then …,” emphasizing “sometime later.”
あとに is more formal/written and highlights sequence (e.g. “X occurs, and then after that, Y”).
In spoken Japanese, あと or あとで are by far the most common.

Why is で used after 体育館 instead of に?

で marks the location where an action takes place. Since the act of drinking happened in the gym, we use 体育館で. In contrast, に would indicate a destination or location of existence rather than the setting of an action.

Why is を used before 味噌汁 with 飲む? Shouldn’t we “eat” soup?

In Japanese, 飲む covers drinking all liquids and most soups—even if there are bits of tofu or seaweed in it. Because 味噌汁 is fundamentally a liquid, it takes を + 飲む. If you “eat” the solid toppings, you might say 具を食べる, but for the soup itself you always 飲みます.

Why is the verb 飲みました in the polite past form? What would a casual alternative look like?

飲みました is the polite past tense of 飲む, used in formal or polite contexts. In casual speech, you would say 飲んだ. The full casual sentence would be: • 運動会のあと、体育館で味噌汁を飲んだ。

Why are there spaces between each word in this sentence? Are spaces normally used in Japanese?

Japanese is usually written without spaces; words and particles run together. The spaces here are only for learners to identify individual words more easily. In real Japanese text, you’d see: • 運動会のあと、体育館で味噌汁を飲みました。