after
adj.adj. later than something else or following it in time or order. You use it to show that one event happens when another one finishes.
adj. following in time, place, or order. Functions as a head of a prepositional phrase taking a noun or gerund as its complement.
We can go for a walk after dinner.
The team felt much more confident after winning their first three matches of the season.
After months of intense negotiation and several public setbacks, the two companies finally agreed on a merger that would reshape the local tech industry.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Indo-European *-teros Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep(o)teros Proto-Germanic *after Old English æfter Middle English after English after From Middle English after, from Old English æfter, from Proto-West Germanic aftar, from Proto-Germanic after, aftiri, from Proto-Indo-European h₂epoteros (“further behind, further away”), from *h₂epo (“off, away”). Cognate with Scots efter (“after”), North Frisian efter (“after, behind”), West Frisian after, achter, efter (“behind; after”), Low German/Dutch achter (“behind”), German after- (“after-”), Swedish/Danish efter (“after”), Norwegian Nynorsk/Norwegian Bokmål etter (“after”), Icelandic eftir (“after”), aftur (“back, again”). The Irish usage to indicate recent completion of an activity is a calque of the Irish collocation Táim tar éis... (“I have just...”, literally “I am after...”).
Commonly introduces a time clause or a noun phrase; when followed by a clause, it functions as a subordinating conjunction.
After of the movie, we went home.After the movie, we went home.After is a preposition and does not require 'of' to link to a noun.