transcription, транскрипция: [ ðen ]
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
Then means at a particular time in the past or in the future.
He wanted to have a source of income after his retirement; until then, he wouldn’t require additional money...
The clinic opened for business last October and since then has treated more than 200 people.
ADV : ADV with cl , oft prep ADV
2.
Then is used when you refer to something which was true at a particular time in the past but is not true now.
...the Race Relations Act of 1976 (enacted by the then Labour Government)...
ADJ : ADJ n
•
Then is also an adverb.
Richard Strauss, then 76 years old, suffered through the war years in silence...
ADV : ADV group
3.
You use then to say that one thing happens after another, or is after another on a list.
Add the oil and then the scallops to the pan, leaving a little space for the garlic...
ADV : ADV cl / group , ADV before v
4.
You use then in conversation to indicate that what you are about to say follows logically in some way from what has just been said or implied.
‘I wasn’t a very good scholar at school.’—‘What did you like doing best then?’...
ADV : cl / group ADV
5.
You use then at the end of a topic or at the end of a conversation.
‘I’ll talk to you on Friday anyway.’—‘Yep. Okay then.’
ADV : cl / group ADV
6.
You use then with words like ‘now’, ‘well’, and ‘okay’, to introduce a new topic or a new point of view.
Now then, you say you walk on the fields out the back?
ADV : adv ADV
7.
You use then to introduce the second part of a sentence which begins with ‘if’. The first part of the sentence describes a possible situation, and then introduces the result of the situation.
If the answer is ‘yes’, then we must decide on an appropriate course of action...
ADV : ADV cl
8.
You use then at the beginning of a sentence or after ‘and’ or ‘but’ to introduce a comment or an extra piece of information to what you have already said.
He sounded sincere, but then, he always did.
ADV : ADV cl
9.
now and then: see now
there and then: see there