avant que
French
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.vɑ̃ kə/
Conjunction
avant que (+ subjunctive)
- 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.