haha wa watashi o shikatta ato de, yasashiku hagemashite kureta.

After scolding me, my mother encouraged me kindly.

Breakdown of haha wa watashi o shikatta ato de, yasashiku hagemashite kureta.

• は: topic particle
• を: direct object particle
• 母はは: mother
• 〜た: past tense

Questions & Answers about haha wa watashi o shikatta ato de, yasashiku hagemashite kureta.

Why is 母 followed by は?

は marks 母 as the topic of the sentence.

So 母は means something like As for my mother, ... or My mother ... in natural English.

It does not simply mean subject in every case, but here the topic is also the person doing the actions:

• she scolded me
• she then encouraged me

Using は also gives the sentence a natural, descriptive feel, as if the speaker is telling you what their mother did.

Why is 私 followed by を in 私を叱った?

In 私を叱った, the verb 叱る means to scold. The person being scolded is the direct object, so it takes を.

So:

• 母は私を叱った = My mother scolded me

Even though English uses me without a special marker, Japanese shows that relationship with を.

Why is it 叱ったあとで and not 叱ってあとで?

The pattern here is:

• verb (past plain form) + あとで

This means after doing ...

So:

• 叱ったあとで = after scolding
• literally, after [she] scolded [me]

This is a very common grammar pattern:

• 食べたあとで = after eating
• 宿題をしたあとで = after doing homework

So 叱ってあとで would be incorrect here.