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For a foreigner, the usage of 'In + time' and 'after + time' are kind of confusing..

  1. The system will be turned off in 5 minutes.

  2. The system will be turned off after 5 minutes.

I'm confused because many translations in my language are just the same. Based on my research and study, 1) is right. But I want to make sure.

In a dictionary, IN means after a particular length of time.

(F.Y.I) I want to mean that... like... the system will be turned off when 1min, 2min, 3min, 4min...has elapsed and (finally) 5min ! = the system shutdowns.

And if possible, could you explain what the difference is between them?

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  • They are both grammatical, and they both mean the same thing, in most cases. As a warning, or an announcement, they're identical. As a promise, they may vary, depending on how desirable the event is. If, for instance, you're being thrashed to death by a runaway machine, (1) (but not (2), which is exact) can be used to mean within 5 minutes, i.e, definitely after 5 minutes have elapsed, and sooner if possible. But that requires the right context to get interpreted that way.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Feb 28, 2015 at 16:29
  • english.stackexchange.com/questions/74156/… covers the same topic
    – Håkan Lindqvist
    Commented Feb 28, 2015 at 16:39
  • I think that the first alternative (using in) sounds more natural for specifying that this event will occur 5 minutes from now.
    – Håkan Lindqvist
    Commented Feb 28, 2015 at 16:44

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Your sentence #1 is correct, and your interpretation of it is also correct.

There is less "wiggle room" in your sentence #1. In five minutes CAN mean "in exactly five minutes--not a second more or less," but it doesn't HAVE to. I guess that is one thing which could confuse you.

Your sentence #2, on the other hand, is less precise. "After five minutes" COULD mean five minutes and zero seconds, but it does not HAVE to. A normal interpretation of "after five minutes" would be "at some point after five minutes." In your case,

"The system will be turned off [some time] after five minutes have elapsed."

Another example:

  1. I'm going to close the door in five minutes on the dot [i.e., in exactly five minutes], so you'd better get in here before five minutes are up. [In other words, at five minutes plus one second, the door is already closed.]

  2. I'm going to close the door after five minutes [have elapsed], so I encourage you to be on time. [In other words, at some point after five minutes have elapsed, the door will be closed. It could be a few seconds after five minutes, but the five-minute mark is the predicted (and approximate) time for the door to be closed.

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