後で vs. 前に. Why not the same particle?


Why don't 後で and 前に both use the same particle? (I suppose I would think に
would be more appropriate.) They both seem to be the same kind of statement,
just with different times (before/after), so I really can't think of any
reason for the particle discrepancy.




Cross-linguistically, grammatical words like に and で are often unpredictable
or idiosyncratic, and you can't always explain them logically.

For example, in English, we say _arrive at_ but not _*arrive to_. And we say
_Welcome to X_ but not _*Welcome at X_. Why? [No reason. It's
arbitrary.](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=7476) It seems like the
alternatives should be just as logical, but for some reason we only say them a
certain way. And sometimes these requirements vary over time, or from place to
place. For example, American English speakers say _on the weekend_ , but
British speakers say [_at the
weekend_.](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/75488) Unfortunately, language
learners have to memorize these facts and move on.

### So what about 前に and あとで?

Here's what Samuel Martin writes in _A Reference Grammar of Japanese_ (1975),
p.219, as part of his multi-page explanation of に versus で:

> Unexplained is the following anomaly: 前に 'before' refers to order (= 先に),
> time, or static space, and 前で '(happening) in front' refers only to space;
> あとに 'after' refers only to order and あとで 'after' only to time (with 後ろに／で
> 'behind' designating space). Some sort of semantic cancellation may be
> present; or perhaps the overlap with the copula infinitive and gerund has
> confused the picture.

So the reason is unclear, at least to Martin. We can still try to guess,
though! Etymologically で is a contraction of にて (and you can still hear にて
occasionally in very formal registers), so perhaps we might speculate that the
difference is related to て suggesting temporal order ("after").

But I personally think you're better off just memorizing 前に and あとで and not
trying to find the logic behind them—it's possible there's no logic to find!




Cross-linguistically, grammatical words like に and で are often unpredictable
or idiosyncratic, and you can't always explain them logically.

For example, in English, we say _arrive at_ but not _*arrive to_. And we say
_Welcome to X_ but not _*Welcome at X_. Why? [No reason. It's
arbitrary.](http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=7476) It seems like the
alternatives should be just as logical, but for some reason we only say them a
certain way. And sometimes these requirements vary over time, or from place to
place. For example, American English speakers say _on the weekend_ , but
British speakers say [_at the
weekend_.](https://english.stackexchange.com/a/75488) Unfortunately, language
learners have to memorize these facts and move on.

### So what about 前に and あとで?

Here's what Samuel Martin writes in _A Reference Grammar of Japanese_ (1975),
p.219, as part of his multi-page explanation of に versus で:

> Unexplained is the following anomaly: 前に 'before' refers to order (= 先に),
> time, or static space, and 前で '(happening) in front' refers only to space;
> あとに 'after' refers only to order and あとで 'after' only to time (with 後ろに／で
> 'behind' designating space). Some sort of semantic cancellation may be
> present; or perhaps the overlap with the copula infinitive and gerund has
> confused the picture.

So the reason is unclear, at least to Martin. We can still try to guess,
though! Etymologically で is a contraction of にて (and you can still hear にて
occasionally in very formal registers), so perhaps we might speculate that the
difference is related to て suggesting temporal order ("after").

But I personally think you're better off just memorizing 前に and あとで and not
trying to find the logic behind them—it's possible there's no logic to find!

