detrás = después de?

Question

Are they the same?

Answer 1

I learned "detrás de" as "behind" and "después de" as "after".

La niña está detrás del árbol. The little girl is behind the tree.

Voy a ir al cine después de cenar. I am going to go to the movies after eating dinner.

Thanks a lot. - zhmelissa, Jun 9, 2012

Answer 2

They can mean the same. Example:

María iba detrás de Juan en la fila del colegio.

María iba depués de Juan en la fila del colegio.

Here they both mean behind/after and can be interchangeable.

Not really. In your second example, what is being said is something like María started in the line after Juan had started, but it´s awkward because the word "empezó" is missing.

"Detrás" refers to position and "después refers to time.

Gracias. - zhmelissa, Jun 9, 2012

Thank you for,"unconfusing me " I now think that i have it. - ray76, Jun 9, 2012

Answer 3

They can mean the same. Example:

María iba detrás de Juan en la fila del colegio.

María iba depués de Juan en la fila del colegio.

Here they both mean behind/after and can be interchangeable.