The use of hòulái 后来 vs. ránhòu 然后 When you - Cchatty

The use of hòulái 后来 vs. ránhòu 然后

When you say that someone did something in the past and after that or later did something else, or that someone regularly did something in the past and after that or later did something else, use either hòulái 后来 or ránhòu 然后.

Unlike yǐhòu 以后, neither can be used after the verb in the first clause, but must be placed at the beginning of the second clause.

Mr. Wang taught Chinese in college for twenty years, and after that retired.
✔ CC: Wáng Xiānsheng zài dàxué jiāole èrshíniánde Hànyǔ, hòulái jiù tuìxiū le.
王先生在大学教了二十年的汉语，后来就退休了。

✖ BC: Wáng Xiānsheng zài dàxué jiāole èrshíniánde Hànyǔ, ránhòu jiù tuìxiū le.
王先生在大学教了二十年的汉语，然后就退休了。
This is BC unless you mean that it logically follows that after teaching anything for twenty years, everyone retires — by law or custom, etc.

They dated for over two years, and afterward, they got married.
✔ CC: Tāmen tánle liǎngniánduō de lián-ài, hòulái jiù jiéhūn le.
他们谈了两年多的恋爱，后来就结婚了。

✖ BC: Tāmen tánle liǎngniánduō de lián-ài, ránhòu jiù jiéhūn le.
他们谈了两年多的恋爱，然后就结婚了。

This is BC unless you assume that dating always logically ends in marriage, which we know is painfully not the case!

HOWEVER, just as when it’s used in the future tense, ránhòu 然后 cannot be used with a negative clause with the past tense either, since ránhòu 然后 always implies a logical
the sequence of events.

My father smoked for twenty years, but afterward, he didn’t smoke anymore.
✔ CC: Wǒ fùqin chōule èrshínián de yān, kěshì hòulái tā bùchōu le.
我父亲抽了二十年的烟，可是后来他不抽了。

✖ BC: Wǒ fùqin chōule èrshínián de yān, kěshì ránhòu tā bùchōu le.
我父亲抽了二十年的烟，可是然后他不抽了。

Finally, no matter what the tense, you can always use yǐhòu 以后 after the verb in the first clause to mean “after” doing something or someone did, does, or will do something else:

After she goes to class, she’ll go to work.
Tā xià le kè yǐhòu jiù huì qù gōngzuò.
她下了课以后就会去工作。

Every evening after they watch TV, they go to bed.
Tāmen měitiān wǎnshang kànle diànshì yǐhòu jiù shàngchuáng.
他们每天晚上看了电视以后就上床。

After she went to class, she went to work.
Tā xiàle kè yǐhòu jiù qù gōngzuò le.
她下了课以后就去工作了。

Every evening after they watched TV, they went to bed.
Tāmen měitiān wǎnshang kànle diànshì yǐhòu jiù shàngchuáng le.
他们每天晚上看了电视以后就上床了。

In NONE of the four examples above would you use ránhòu 然后 using the same sentence structure.

After eating dinner, they want to go see a movie.
✔ CC: Chīle wǎnfàn yǐhòu, tāmen jiù yào qù kàn diànyǐng .
吃了晚饭以后，他们就要去看电影。
✖ BC: Chīle wǎnfàn ránhòu, tāmen jiù yào qù kàn diànyǐng.
吃了晚饭然后，他们就要去看电影。