toegeunhago naseo jibeseo swieoyo.

퇴근하고 나서 집에서 쉬어요.toegeunhago naseo jibeseo swieoyo.
I rest at home after leaving work.
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Questions & Answers about toegeunhago naseo jibeseo swieoyo.

What does 퇴근하고 나서 mean and how is it constructed?

퇴근하고 나서 breaks down into three parts:

  • 퇴근하다: “to leave work / to finish one’s workday”
  • -고: a connective ending meaning “and” or “then”
  • 나서: “after doing [the verb before it]”

Put together, 퇴근하고 나서 literally means “after leaving work” or “once I’ve finished work.”

Why do we use -고 나서 instead of just -고 to link actions?
While -고 by itself can link verbs (e.g. “I eat and (then) sleep”), -고 나서 explicitly marks a sequence: “after doing A, then do B.” It emphasizes that the first action must be completed before the second begins. In our sentence, 퇴근하고 나서 집에서 쉬어요, it stresses “only once I’ve left work do I rest at home.”
Can we replace 퇴근하고 나서 with 퇴근 후에?

Yes. 퇴근 후에 (퇴근한 후에) also means “after leaving work.” The differences are:

  • 퇴근하고 나서 is more colloquial and action-oriented.
  • 퇴근 후에 is slightly more formal or written (especially 퇴근한 후에).

Both are correct:

  • 퇴근하고 나서 집에서 쉬어요.
  • 퇴근 후에 집에서 쉬어요.
What is the function of 에서 in 집에서 쉬어요? Why not 집에 쉬어요?

에서 is the location-of-action particle. It tells us where the action (쉬다: “to rest”) takes place. You use 에서 with action verbs.

  • 집에서 쉬어요. = “I rest at home.”

If you used 집에 쉬어요, it would sound odd because 에 marks destination or existence, not the site of an action. 집에 가요 (“go to home”) makes sense, but 집에 쉬어요 does not.

Why is the subject omitted in this sentence? Who is doing the action?

Korean often drops (omits) the subject when it’s clear from context. Here, it’s understood to be “I” or “we” depending on the conversation. Full version:

  • (제가) 퇴근하고 나서 집에서 쉬어요.
    But native speakers leave out 제가 because it’s redundant if you’re talking about your own routine.
What tense and politeness level is 쉬어요? How would you say it in the past or future?
  • 쉬어요 is present tense, polite speech (the “요-form”). It can express a habitual or current action.
  • Past polite: 쉬었어요 (“I rested”)
  • Future polite: 쉴 거예요 (“I will rest”) or 쉴게요 (more spontaneous “I’ll rest”).
Can we rearrange the sentence elements? What is the usual order of time, place, and verb in Korean?

Korean word order is relatively flexible, but the typical order is:

  1. Time expression (퇴근하고 나서)
  2. Place expression (집에서)
  3. Verb (쉬어요)

Changing it to 집에서 퇴근하고 쉬어요 can be confusing (it sounds like “rest after leaving home at home”). You could swap time and place if clarity remains:

  • 집에서 퇴근하고 나서 쉬어요 (less natural, but still understandable).

For natural speech, stick with Time → Place → Verb.

How do we get 쉬어요 from the dictionary form 쉬다?

To conjugate 쉬다 into present polite:

  1. Remove the dictionary ending -다, leaving the stem 쉬-.
  2. Add -어요 (since the stem ends in a vowel other than ㅏ/ㅗ): 쉬 + 어요 = 쉬어요.
    You can contract it in fast speech to 쉬어(요) or even 쉬요, but 쉬어요 is the standard polite form.