Grammar
-(으)ㄴ 뒤에
Meaning
Beginner-(eu)n dwie
Means 'after doing something'. Attach -은 뒤에 to a verb stem ending in a consonant and -ㄴ 뒤에 to one ending in a vowel. It has almost the same meaning as -(으)ㄴ 후에.
Form
뒤 is a noun ('the back, what comes after'), so the verb in front of it takes the -(으)ㄴ modifier ending: vowel-ending stems take -ㄴ 뒤에 (끝나다 → 끝난 뒤에, 오다 → 온 뒤에), consonant-ending stems take -은 뒤에 (먹다 → 먹은 뒤에, 씻다 → 씻은 뒤에), and ㄹ-final stems drop the ㄹ (만들다 → 만든 뒤에). Whatever sits in front of 뒤에 is always the earlier event. The 에 can be left off with no change in meaning (수업이 끝난 뒤 집에 갔습니다), and 뒤 can be swapped for the Sino-Korean 후. It attaches to action verbs, not to adjectives.
Examples
흔들림이 멈춘 뒤에 밖으로 나갑니다.
After the shaking stops, we go outside.
수업이 끝난 뒤에 친구를 만났습니다.
I met my friend after class ended.
손을 씻은 뒤에 밥을 먹습니다.
I eat after washing my hands.
숙제를 다 한 뒤에 텔레비전을 봤습니다.
I watched television after finishing all my homework.
Common mistakes & nuance
There is no -는 뒤에. Even when the sentence is about the future, the verb before 뒤에 keeps the -(으)ㄴ shape: 수업이 끝난 뒤에 갈 거예요, not 끝나는 뒤에. The other thing to watch is the space — 뒤 is a separate word, so it is 끝난 뒤에, never 끝난뒤에.
Similar grammar
- -(으)ㄴ 후에
Practically interchangeable — 뒤 is the native Korean word and 후 the Sino-Korean one, so -(으)ㄴ 후에 reads a shade more formal, which is why documents and news lean towards it.
- -고 나서
-고 나서 also means 'after', but it puts weight on finishing the first action before moving on, so it needs a verb the speaker deliberately completes. -(으)ㄴ 뒤에 just places one event after another and works fine for things that simply happen, like 흔들림이 멈춘 뒤에.