자마자 (immediately after) - As Soon As

At its core, 자마자 connects two sentences. Sentence A happens, and then Sentence B happens right away. There is no intentional delay, no coffee break, and no checking Instagram in between. It basically translates to "as soon as" or "right after" in English. The magic happens right at the verb stem of the first action. You don't have to worry about complex conjugations or whether the verb ends in a vowel or a consonant. You just take the verb, strip it down to its base form (the stem), and glue 자마자 onto it. It’s like a grammar sticker. The second part of the sentence—the result or the next action—is where you decide if you're talking about the past, the present, or the future. The first part stays exactly the same, which is a huge relief if you're tired of memorizing irregular conjugation charts!

1. 1Identify the first verb in the sequence (the action that happens first).
2. 2Remove the 다 from the end of the dictionary form to find the verb stem.
3. 3Add 자마자 directly to that stem. No spaces needed!
4. 4Complete the rest of your sentence with the second action.
5. 5Example 1: 가다 (to go) → 가 + 자마자 = 가자마자 (As soon as I go...)
6. 6Example 2: 먹다 (to eat) → 먹 + 자마자 = 먹자마자 (As soon as I eat...)
7. 7Example 3: 공부하다 (to study) → 공부하 + 자마자 = 공부하자마자 (As soon as I study...)
8. 8Example 4: 듣다 (to hear/listen) → 듣 + 자마자 = 듣자마자 (As soon as I hear...)

You’ll find yourself using 자마자 in almost every real-world scenario you can imagine. Let's look at a few:

• Ordering Food: Imagine you're starving. You walk into a restaurant and tell your friend, "As soon as I sit down, I'm ordering everything on the menu." (앉자마자 주문할 거예요).
• Asking Directions: "As soon as you see the big bakery, turn right." (빵집이 보이자마자 오른쪽으로 가세요).
• Job Interviews: You might say, "I started working as soon as I graduated." (졸업하자마자 취직했어요).
• Relatable Moments: Like when you finish a great Netflix series and immediately start the next one. We've all been there.

Even though 자마자 is fast, it has some boundaries. You cannot use it with nouns directly. If you want to say "as soon as I'm a boss," you have to use the verb 이다 (to be) to make it 보스이자마자. Also, the subject of the first and second clause doesn't *always* have to be the same, but it usually sounds more natural when they are connected logically. One big rule: don't use it for things that take a long time to finish. If there's a gap of three days between the actions, 자마자 is going to feel very confused. It's for the "right now" and the "immediately."

The biggest trap you'll fall into is trying to put the past tense in the first part. You might want to say 갔자마자 because you're talking about something that already happened. Stop right there! In Korean, the first part of a 자마자 sentence never carries the tense. The tense is always tucked away at the very end of the sentence. Think of the first part as a neutral zone. Another mistake is forgetting that 자마자 is specifically for verbs. If you try to use it with an adjective, it sometimes sounds a bit awkward unless you're describing a change in state (like "as soon as it got cold"). Stick to actions first while you're learning!

You might have heard of -고 나서. This also means "after doing something," but it’s the slow, chill cousin of 자마자. -고 나서 implies that Action A finished, maybe you took a breath, and then you started Action B. 자마자 is like Action A and Action B are holding hands. There's also -(으)ㄴ 후에, which is very formal and just means "after." If you use -(으)ㄴ 후에 to describe running out of a burning building as soon as the alarm went off, you’ll sound like you’re reading a manual instead of living the moment. Use 자마자 for that urgency!