English Grammar

Before

Before as an adverb

Before, as an adverb, means ‘already’, ‘in the past’ and similar ideas.

• I have seen that film before.

Before can also mean ‘at any time before the past moment that we are talking about’. In this case a past perfect tense is used.

• She realized that she had seen him before.

We also use before after a time expression to ‘count back from a past moment’. A past perfect tense is normally used. Note that to count back from the present, we use ago, not before.

Before as a conjunction

The conjunction before is used to join one clause to another. Before and its clause can come either before or after the other clause.

• I will die before I surrender.
• Before I surrender, I will die. (Note the comma in the second structure.)

Tenses

In a clause with before, we use a present tense to refer to the future.

• I will telephone you before I come. (NOT … before I will come.)

To emphasise the idea of completion, we often use present and past perfect tenses in before-clauses.

• You can’t go to bed before you have finished your homework.

In a formal style, we often use the structure before …ing.

• Please put out all lights before leaving the office.

Before as a preposition

The preposition before is normally used to refer to time.

• I must get home before nine o’clock.

Note that before can refer to place in a few cases:

a) to talk about the order in which people or things come in queues, lists etc.

• Your name comes before mine on the list.

b) to mean ‘in the presence of’

• He was brought before the judge.

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