The purpose of the study was to investigate children's understanding of "before" and "after" in temporal directions, in temporal questions, and in pictorial events through the use of three interview methods. The subjects for the study were 62 children, ranging in age from 40 to 80 months, enrolled in a half-day, private nursery/kindergarten center. There were 27 boys and 35 girls. One-way analysis of variance on the total before/after scores showed significant differences by age. Similar results were found for the before score. Pearson correlations revealed significant positive moderate correlations between the tasks. Findings of no differences between the mean responses to the before items and to the after items indicated that comprehension and interpretation of the two concepts were similar. (Author)