efter

Efter is a preposition used in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish to indicate temporal or sequential relations, and it can also express pursuit or positioning in a following sense. It roughly corresponds to the English word after and is used with time, order, or actions that follow another event or item.

In usage, efter appears in time expressions such as after three days. It also signals sequence or ranking, as in the person following another in line, or events that occur after a referenced moment. It can govern nouns and pronouns, for example “after him” or “after the rain.” In Norwegian and Danish, it is common in both everyday speech and formal language to denote things that come later in a sequence or duration.

The word has historical roots in the Scandinavian languages. It derives from Old Norse eftir and is cognate with the English word after, sharing the same Proto-Germanic heritage. The Danish and Swedish forms are both spelled efter, while Norwegian Bokmål typically uses etter. Across these languages, efter remains one of the core prepositions for expressing later time, subsequent events, or actions that follow others, and it contrasts with før (“before”).