French Notes

avant – before

Avant has 3 different forms, based on what follows it.

* with a noun,  it’s avant + noun 

avant le dîner, avant le commencement de la classe, avant mon départ

* with a verb, it’s avant +de + infinitive

it translates to ‘before verbing’

avant de dîner – before dining

avant de commencer – before starting

avant de partir – before leaving

* with an entire phrase it gets complicated and we won’t play with that one in class, but here’s the structure anyway.

avant + que + phrase in subjunctive form with ‘ne’ in front of the verb

après – after

Après does a similar thing to avant, where what follows it determines its form.

* with a noun, it’s après + noun

après le dîner, après la classe, après le spectacle

* with a verb, it’s a bit tricky – it’s après + auxiliary verb for passé composé in infinitive + past participle

It literally translates to ‘after having verbed’

après avoir dîné – after having eaten

après être parti – after having left

après avoir commencé – after starting or after having started

*with a phrase the phrase goes into a ‘will verb’ or ‘will have verbed’ tense.  We won’t be using this one in class for a couple of quarters.

structure is après + que + phrase

Nous dînerons au restaurant après que le spectacle sera terminé –  We’ll eat after the show will be over.

Je chercherai un emploi après que j’aurai obtenu mon diplôme – I’ll look for a job after I will have earned my diploma.