before: adverb

'at any time before now/then'

We can use before to mean 'at any time before now'. In British English, a present perfect tense is normally used.
üI think I have seen this film before.
üHave you ever been here before?

‘Before’ can also mean 'at any time before some past moment’. In this case a past perfect tense is used.
üShe realized that she had seen him before.


counting back from a past time: eight years before

We also use ‘before’ after a time expression to 'count back from a past moment - to say how much earlier something else had happened. A past perfect tense is normally used.
üWhen I saw her husband I found that I had seen him three years before.

To count back from the present, we use ‘ago’, not ‘before’
üI left school four years ago. (NOT..four years before / before four years)


before, before that and first
•‘Before’ is not generally used alone to mean 'first' or 'before that happens'. Instead we use ‘first or before that’.
üI want to get married one day. But before that first, I want to travel.

(NOT...But before, I want to travel.)


before: conjunction
•Before clause, + clause
•clause + before clause

position of before-clause

‘Before’ can join one clause to another.
üBefore I have breakfast, I spend half an hour doing physical exercises.
üI prefer to do my exercises before I have breakfast.

(In both sentences, the speaker does exercises first and then has breakfast. In the second example, the before-clause is given more importance because it comes at the end. Note the comma in the first example.)
üBefore he did military service, he went to university.

(He went to university first.)
üHe did military service before he went to university.

(He did military service first.)


• •


Present tense with future meaning

With ‘before’, we use a present tense if the meaning is future .
üI will telephone you before I come. (NOT... before I will come)

Perfect tenses In clauses with ‘before’

We often use present perfect and past perfect tenses to emphasise the idea of completion.
üYou can't go home before you have typed this letter. (= ... before the moment when you have typed the letter.)
üHe went out before I had completed the letter.


The patient had died before the doctor came.

He went out before I had completed the letter.


before things that don't happen

We sometimes use ‘before’ to talk about things that don't happen (because something stops them).
üWe'd better get out of here before your father catches us.
üShe left before I could ask for her phone number.


before ...ing In a formal style, we often use the structure ‘before ...ing’.
üPlease put out all lights before leaving the office. Before beginning the book, she spent five years on research.

Øbefore time
Øin front of place
üI must move my car before nine o'clock.
üIt is parked in front of the post office. (NOT ... before the post office)

‘Before’ is normally used to refer to time. However, it can refer to place:

A: to talk about order in queues, lists, documents etc.
üDo you mind? I was before / in front of you!
üHer name comes before mine in the alphabet.
üWe use 'a' before a consonant and 'the' before a vowel.

B: to mean 'in the presence of (somebody important)'
üHe murdered the man before the judge.
•C: in the expressions- right before one's eyes, before one's very eyes.