それで
and then / so
それで is a connecting word that stands at the beginning of a sentence. It picks up what was just said and presents the next sentence as the result or the next step in the story. Literally it is それ (“that”) + で (“by, because of”).
In English it works like “so” or “and then”.
1. Connecting a reason to its result
State a cause in one sentence, then start the next sentence with それで to give the result.
昨日は熱がありました。それで、学校を休みました。
“I had a fever yesterday. So I stayed home from school.”
- 昨日（きのう）= yesterday
- は = topic marker
- 熱（ねつ）= fever
- が = subject marker
- ありました = there was, (I) had
- それで = so, because of that
- 学校（がっこう）= school
- を = object marker
- 休みました（やすみました）= was absent, took the day off
2. Moving a story along in conversation
Listeners also use それで to ask for the next part of a story, “and then?”.
それで、どうしたの？
“And then what did you do?”
- それで = and then
- どう = how, what
- した = did (past of する, to do)
- の = casual question particle
How to form it
Reason sentence. それで, result sentence. それで never changes form.
- 雨が降った。それで、家にいた。（あめがふった。それで、いえにいた。）= It rained. So I stayed home.
- 道が込んでいた。それで、遅れた。（みちがこんでいた。それで、おくれた。）= The roads were crowded. So I was late.
Key idea
それで means “because of that” or “after that”: it points back at the previous sentence and uses it as the springboard for what comes next.
Other N4 grammar
Updated .