Before, after and while
Which event happens first, and what happens at the same time?
المعنى
Events can be linked by saying which happens first or whether they happen at the same time. This makes the order clear even when the later event is mentioned first. Languages use linking words, verb forms, or context, and some have no separate linking word for a particular time relation. Unlike When and how long, Before, after and while relates one event to another rather than giving a time or duration on its own.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Find two events and check whether the message places one before, after, or during the other, regardless of their order in the sentence.
في اللغة الأم
Arabic links events with قبلَ أنْ for 'before' and بعدَ أنْ for 'after.' A present-form verb after قبل أن takes the subjunctive, often ending in -a, while بعد أن commonly introduces a completed event with a past-form verb. بينما introduces an event happening at the same time as another.
أغلقُ النوافذَ قبلَ أنْ أنامَ. (Ughliqu al-nawāfidha qabla an anāma.)
أنامَ has the subjunctive ending after قبل أن.
بعدَ أنْ تناولنا العشاءَ، غسلنا الأطباقَ. (Baʿda an tanāwalnā al-ʿashāʾa, ghasalnā al-aṭbāq.)
بينما كنتُ أطبخُ، كان سامي يجهّزُ المائدةَ. (Baynamā kuntu aṭbukhu, kāna Sāmī yujahhizu al-māʾida.)
بينما links two events in progress at the same time.
في اللغة قيد التعلم
English links events with words such as before, after, and while. The part introduced by the linking word can come before or after the other part of the sentence. When these links refer to the future, English normally uses a present tense after the linking word, not will.
I'll call you before I leave.
Leave refers to the future, but there is no will after before.
After we finished dinner, we washed the dishes.
Dinner happened first; washing the dishes happened later.
Tom listened to music while he cooked.
The two activities happened at the same time.
Learners whose language uses a future form in both parts may add will after before or after. Learners whose language uses the same word for while and until may confuse events happening together with an action continuing up to its end.