Breakdown of Después de haberse secado, la ropa está lista.
estar
to be
después de
after
la ropa
the clothes
listo
ready
Questions & Answers about Después de haberse secado, la ropa está lista.
Why is it Después de haberse secado and not Después de se ha secado or Después de ha secado?
Because after the preposition después de you must use an infinitive. To express a prior, completed action, Spanish uses the perfect infinitive: haber + participio. With a pronominal verb like secarse, the clitic goes attached to the infinitive: haberse secado. A finite form like se ha secado cannot follow a preposition.
Where does the pronoun se go in this structure? Could I say Después de se haber secado?
No. With an infinitive after a preposition, object/reflexive pronouns are enclitic (attached to the end). The only correct placement here is haberse secado. Forms like se haber secado or haber se secado are not standard.
Could I just say Después de secarse instead of Después de haberse secado?
Yes. Después de secarse, la ropa está lista is acceptable and common. The perfect infinitive haberse secado highlights completion a bit more explicitly, but in many everyday contexts both are fine.
Why use secarse and not secar?