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I've come across a sentence in Minna no Nihongo I can't explain myself:

> はさみを使ったら、元の所に戻しておいてください。

In the book, its translation in French is, in English: "After you have used
the scissors, put them at their original place".

The bit I'm not understanding is the usage of _-tara_ to translate "after you
have used", like はさみを使ったあとで. I can't find an explanation of this pattern, so
I'm actually unsure if this is maybe the French translation (likely translated
from the English translation :p) that is wrong, or if I misunderstood it.
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2016-02-09T21:06:45.757
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2016-02-12T07:29:36.403
2016-02-12T07:29:10.213
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question
grammar conditionals
Special use of ~たら to translate あとで?
たら is a hypothetical particle similar to ば and なら, however it carries a
different nuance. As you can probably infer from how the past tense is used
(eg 読んだら 食べたら 使ったら), it implies that the action is already completed. Looking
at your sentence,

> はさみを使ったら、 元の所に戻しておいてください。

Comparing it to the given translation, it is accurate. A more literal
translation would be

> Once the action of using scissors is completed, please place it in it's
> original spot.

後で carries a temporal nuance, that is to say that it is concerned with the
timing sequence of the events in the sentence. Using あとで would make sense in
this situation, but the たら form is preferred since it carries a different
nuance.
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2016-02-09T21:24:26.597
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2016-02-12T07:29:36.403
2016-02-12T07:29:36.403
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answer