avant que

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.vɑ̃ kə/

• Audio

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Conjunction

avant que (+ subjunctive)

1. before

   Antonym: après que

Usage notes

• Along with en attendant que (“until”) and jusqu’à ce que (“until”), avant que is one of the three conjunctions of time that take the subjunctive in prescriptive French; all three refer to expected events in the future. Colloquially, après que may also take the subjunctive, but this is discouraged by language authorities.
• In written French, the verb that follows avant que takes the expletive particle ne, which does not negate the verb and serves no grammatical function.

  Il mourut avant que l’ambulance n’arrive. ― He died before the ambulance arrived.