～て vs ～てから for sequencing activities

Question

This is potentially much simpler than I'm expecting but when simply ordering events within a sequence are there any contextual differences between using ～て and ～てから?

For example, if I was talking about my morning routine and wanted to say I eat breakfast and then brush my teeth I could say it using either ～て or ～てから.

毎朝、朝ごはんを食べて歯を磨きます。
Every morning I eat breakfast and brush my teeth.

毎朝、朝ごはんを食べてから歯を磨きます。
Every morning I brush my teeth AFTER I eat breakfast.

My interpretation is that meaning wise, these two sentences are essentially the same, first I eat my breakfast then I brush my teeth. Is this correct? Does ～てから place emphasis on one of the two events over the other or are these just two different ways of saying the same thing? How are these sentences different? In a situation like this why would I choose one over the other, is it simply a stylistic choice? Is there some nuance I'm missing here?

Answer 1

This question is trickier than it may appear to many Japanese learners and here is why.

OP's first sentence means what s/he stated in English not only because 「て」 was used but also because the two activities happen to be those that physically could not take place simultaneously -- "brush teeth" and "eat".

「て」 can certainly signify the sequence of activities, but it can also signify "juxtaposition".

See definition 一-5 in デジタル大辞泉「て」

This means that if the two activities chosen to form the example sentences had been "eat breakfast" and "watch TV", which could easily be performed simultaneously, the 「て」 would have been ambiguous in function and meaning. If one of those two activities still took place before the other, using 「てから」 would have been the only possible choice in order to clarify the sequence.

We would often say something like:

[朝]{あさ}はいつも[朝]{あさ}シャンして、コーヒー[飲]{の}んで、[新聞読]{しんぶんよ}んで・・・みたいな[感]{かん}じかなあ。

When a native Japanese speaker says this, the 「て/で」(depends on verb) would often be for juxtaposition, and not necessarily for sequence. The three activities mentioned could take place in any order.

That is the difference between 「～～て」 and 「～～てから」.

＊「朝シャン」 is a slangy/colloquial word for "shampoo in the morning".

Answer 2

It's simply that てから puts a strong emphasis on the order of the actions. て is just an enumeration and doesn't necessarily imply ordering.

味噌汁を飲んでご飯を食べる。 Drink miso soup and eat rice. (both happen, maybe together, maybe one after the other, but we can't say - they're just 2 parts of a same group of actions)

味噌汁を飲んでからご飯を食べる。 First drink miso soup, and then eat rice. (there's no way rice eating happens before miso soup drinking)

Trying to reverse the clauses makes the difference evident:

ご飯を食べて味噌汁を飲む。 Eat rice and drink miso soup. (same meaning)

ご飯を食べてから味噌汁を飲む。 First eat rice, and then drink miso soup. (opposite meaning)

Prefer てから to explicitly specify the order things happen (giving instructions is a good example - but there's a lot of other valid use cases).

Answer 3

Another difference is that てから implies volitional actions, like "After studying I'm going to eat some icream". It's more about planning than about simply listing actions. That's why, for example, only てから can be used in case of command, suggestion etc:

• 勉強が終わってからテニスをしましょう
• 勉強が終わってテニスをしましょう
• 勉強が終わってから遊びなさい
• 勉強が終わって遊びなさい

Answer 4

1.

毎朝、朝ごはんを食べて歯を磨きます。
Every morning I eat breakfast and brush my teeth.

2.

毎朝、朝ごはんを食べてから歯を磨きます。
Every morning I brush my teeth AFTER I eat breakfast.

These two translation perfectly works for Japanese people.
Most of Japanese choose 1.
2 a little bit sounds like foreigner or children .