Meaning
In Irish English, be after + -ing can mark a recently completed event, as in “I'm after finishing,” meaning roughly “I've just finished.”
How it is used
The construction combines a form of be with after and an -ing verb to present an event as recently completed or highly relevant to the present. It is not the same as ordinary spatial after in a phrase such as after dinner.
Examples
- “I'm after finishing the report.”
- “She's after leaving the house.”
- “They're after missing the last bus.”
Pronunciation
· after plus -ing
Tone and register
Neutral within varieties that use it. Frequency and exact interpretation vary by speaker, region, and situation.
Visitor guidance
Visitors should learn to understand the construction rather than mechanically replacing every present perfect with it. It is a grammatical feature of Irish English, not a decorative phrase to insert for local color.
Cultural context
Linguistic research treats the after-perfect as a well-known feature of Hiberno-English. Contemporary research documents be after V-ing with a completed-event or ‘hot-news’ function, while historical work connects the construction to long-term Irish–English contact and earlier Irish patterns.
Origin
Research on Hiberno-English connects the after-perfect to historical Irish–English contact while showing that its development is more complex than a simple modern word-for-word translation. Contemporary varieties use be after V-ing for recently completed or highly relevant events.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.
Comparisons featuring this term
Open reviewed place comparisons that explicitly use this canonical term in their editorial comparison set.