Antes de que vs. antes de

Alejandro S.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

The lesson explanation says: Antes de que and Antes que are always followed by the subjunctive.

But several ‘antes de” sample sentences aren’t in subjunctive:

Antes de empezar a bailar, había bebido mucho.Antes de haber empezado a bailar, había bebido mucho

So “antes de” isn’t just a shortening of “antes de que” but follows different rules?

Please explain. Thank you.

Asked 3 years ago

Marsha C.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Antes que and antes de que are not the same as antes de. Verbs following antes de are in the infinitive because the verb follows a proposition.

There is a lesson on this which you can refer to. Using antes de /después de [noun/infinitive] for before/after [something/doing something]

Like33 years ago

The lesson explanation says: Antes de que and Antes que are always followed by the subjunctive.

But several ‘antes de” sample sentences aren’t in subjunctive:

Antes de empezar a bailar, había bebido mucho.Antes de haber empezado a bailar, había bebido mucho

So “antes de” isn’t just a shortening of “antes de que” but follows different rules?

Please explain. Thank you.

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