Lesson 49: 전에, 기 전에
In the previous lesson, you learned how to say ‘after‘ in Korean. In this lesson, you will learn how to say ‘before‘ using 전에 and 기 전에. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to say things like, “Before eating lunch, please wash your hands.“, “Before you go out, please wash the dishes.“, etc.
Lesson 49: 전에, 기 전에
전에
전에 is used with nouns only and is used to express ‘before a certain period of time’ or ‘before some event’. There are no special conjugation rules with 전에. Just remember to leave a space between the noun and 전에. See the table below for an example.
| Conjugation Rule | Examples |
|---|---|
| Noun + 전에 | 식사 (meal) → 식사 전에 수업 (lesson) → 수업 전에 |
Example Sentences With 전에
시험 = test
시험 전에 긴장돼요. = I feel nervous before tests.
식사 = meal
식사 전에 이 약을 드세요. = Please take this medicine before meals.
1시간 = 1 hour
1시간 전에 점심을 먹었어요. = I had lunch 1 hour ago.
기 전에
기 전에 is used with verbs only. 기 전에 express ‘before‘ in the sense of ‘before an action occurs‘. There are no special conjugation rules with 기 전에, so it is super easy to use. All you need to do is remove 다 from the verb, so you are left with the verb stem, and then add 기 전에. See the table below.
| Conjugation Rule | Examples |
|---|---|
| Verb Stem + 기 전에 | 먹다 (to eat) → 먹기 전에 가다 (to go) → 가기 전에 수영하다 (to swim) → 수영하기 전에 |
Example Sentences With 기 전에
먹다 = to eat
점심을 먹기 전에 손을 씻으세요. = Before eating lunch, please wash your hands.
가다 = to go
공항에 가기 전에 여권을 챙기세요. = Before you go to the airport, please take your passport.
나가다 = to go out
나가기 전에 설거지하세요. = Before you go out, please wash the dishes.
수영하다 = to swim
수영하기 전에 준비운동을 해요. = Before I swim, I do warm-up exercises.
Things To Note
If you want to say ‘right before’ doing something, you can use 기직전에. For example,
기차가 출발하기 직전에 기차를 탔어요. = I got on the train right before it departed.
Example Sentences
Here are some more example sentences using 전에 and 기 전에. Remember, 전에 is used with nouns and 기 전에 is used with verbs.
회의 전에 서류를 복사해요. = Before a meeting, I make copies of documents.
같이 점심 먹을까요? = Shall we eat lunch together?
미안해요. 30분 전에 먹었어요. = Sorry. I ate 30 minutes ago.
한국에 언제 왔어요? = When did you come to Korea?
2년 전에 왔어요. = I came two years ago.
한국에 오기 전에 어디에서 살았어요? = Where did you live before coming to Korea?
런던에서 살았어요. = I lived in London.
자기 전에 항상 일기를 써요. = Before I go to bed, I always write in my diary.
아침에 일을 시작하기 전에 커피를 마셔요. = Before I start working in the morning, I drink coffee.